User:Tsinapezam/Darth Vader in ukrainian politics

The image of, a character from the movie epic "Star Wars" Darth Vader, appeared in Ukrainian politics in November 2011. Since then, individuals with the name "Darth Vader" became the head of the "Internet Party of Ukraine", ran in the elections of mayors of Odesa and Kyiv, the elections of the President of Ukraine and the parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2014.

Activity
On February 14, 2011, a person in a Darth Vader costume applied to the Odesa City Council to receive 10 acres of land for free. According to him, he found out that the city council allocates land on the coastal slopes for free, and he came for the plot for himself, justifying it as follows: Later, it turned out that under the mask of "Palpatin's right-hand man" was Odessa public figure  Zhan Nikolayenko. The idea was born from the humorous remark of one of Odessa's politicians that the corruption in the city council is such that even Darth Vader would be issued a state deed to the land there. According to the initial idea, no one should know the real person under the mask of Darth Vader, but Zhan Nikolayenko had to remove his helmet when completing the documents. In the parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2012, Nikolayenko was the head of the election commission and represented the candidate for People's Deputies in electoral district No.133 from the Party of Regions Oleksiy Honcharenko.

In July 2012, a man in a Vader suit with a chainsaw and a group of people, which included Odesa Regional Council  deputies Oleksiy Goncharenko and Oleksiy Potapskyi, "fought" against illegal parking lots near Odesa beaches.

On October 28,  2012 , during the  parliamentary elections in Ukraine  , a person wearing a Darth Vader costume was refused a ballot at a polling station because of his refusal to remove his helmet. According to the man, he could not take off his helmet because without it he would die: Immediately after the incident, the character began campaigning for voters to vote for his son Luke Skywalker, even though there was no such person on the ballot. Nearby, a man in a Chewbacca costume was also campaigning for voters to vote for Skywalker. However, according to media reports, in the same election, it was Darth Vader who was one of the most popular people listed on the spoiled ballots in Odessa.

After the 2012 elections, a billboard appeared in Kyiv with the image of Darth Vader with his hand on his heart, with the inscription "Thank you for your trust!" and the symbol of the "Internet Party of Ukraine", in which some journalists saw a hint of similar billboards of the "Party of Regions", which won the largest number of mandates.

As of November 2012, Darth Vader was the first deputy chairman of the so-called" Internet Party of Ukraine". In December 2012, he distributed an Kyivites on Independence Square  "end-of-the-world kit" to, which included salt, soap, matches, toilet paper, condoms, light bulbs, as well as disks with the  Ubuntu  operating system and evacuation tickets.

On February 26,  2013 , Darth Vader, the first deputy chairman of the "Internet Party of Ukraine", surrounded by a dozen people in white "clones" costumes from "Star Wars", tried to hand over to the  Minister of Justice of Ukraine  a complete package of documents confirming the legitimacy of his party. A month before, on January 23, 2013, the court decided to liquidate the "Internet Party of Ukraine" due to the lack of regional organizations in the political force.

On April 3, 2014, the CEC refused to register Darth Vader, a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine. On April 7, he appealed to the administrative court of Kyiv with a demand to restore his rights as a presidential candidate and to punish those who "illegally deprived him of his constitutional right to be elected." On April 12, the Court of Appeal denied him the right to participate in the elections.

On April 28, 2014, it became known that Vader submitted documents to the Odesa Territorial Election Commission for registration as a candidate for the position of mayor. At the same time, on April 30, 2014, the Kyiv City Territorial Election Commission registered Dart Vader, the first deputy head of the Internet Party of Ukraine, as a candidate for mayor of Kyiv.

In the 2014 elections of People's Deputies, Darth Vader headed the electoral list of the Internet Party of Ukraine. Together with him, citizens of Ukraine, Emperor Palpatine, Stepan Chewbacca, Padme Amidala, and Master Yoda ran for office in the top five of the list.

In September 2015, members of the Darth Vader Bloc party nominated Darth Vader as a candidate for the post of mayor of Odesa. In case of victory, the candidate promised to repair the mayor's office and install plastic windows in the entire building of the mayor's office.

Candidature
There are many candidates for people's deputies of Ukraine and other political positions of Ukraine with the name Darth Vader. In particular at the parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2014, 13 people with this name and surname were registered. In April 2014, it was reported that Dart Mykolayovych and Dart Viktorovych Vaders were registered as candidates for mayors of Odesa and Kyiv, respectively, while Darth Oleksiiovych ran for the Kyiv City Council.

At the local elections in Ukraine in 2015, the  Odesa City Election Commission registered a list of candidates for city council deputies from the Darth Vader Bloc political party, in which 44 out of 48 people had the name Darth Vader.

Among the persons with the name Darth Vader, who were nominated for important political positions in Ukraine, in particular the following: