Left-wing candidate Hitler Mussolini wins local vote in Peru

Peruvian man named Hitler Mussolini has been elected mayor of a small Andean district after winning a local election by a narrow margin on a left-wing party ticket.

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Hitler Mussolini Simeón Flores, 45, won the mayoral race in Queropalca, a district in the province of Lauricocha in the Huánuco department north of Lima, running for the centre-left Ahora Nación party.

He received 229 votes — 34.5% of the 663 valid ballots in Queropalca — ahead of his closest rival, Gaspar Benilde Osorio Zambrano of the Popular Renewal Peru party, who took 204 votes, or 30.8%.

The district has an estimated population of just over 730, according to 2024 official data.

Simeón Flores also manages the Simeon Sac investment group in Pillco Marca, in the same department.

The vote was part of regional and municipal elections held across Peru following right-wing firebrand Keiko Sofía Fujimori's victory in the country's presidential election.

This is not the first time a Hitler has won over the voters in the South American country.

Centre-right We Are Peru party's Hitler Alba served as mayor of another small Andean town of Yungar between 2011 and 2014.

In 2018, he went up against Lennin Vladimir Rodriguez Valverde, who tried to challenge the validity of his candidacy. Alba won against other candidates, garnering 47.7% of the vote.

Alba, who dubbed himself "the good Hitler," campaigned under the slogans "Hitler returns" and "Hitler with the people".

He said at the time that his father did not know about the Nazi German dictator's legacy when he named him.

Lawmaker and surgeon Hitler Saavedra served in Peru's Congress as a member of We Are Peru from 2021 until his death in 2024 at the age of 46.

It is not uncommon for Peruvians to choose historic or otherwise unusual names for their children regardless of negative or controversial connotations.