In a move similar to Kenyans’ disillusionment with politicians, Morris, a black-and-white kitten with orange eyes, is running for mayor of Xalapa in eastern Mexico.
With its campaign slogan: ‘Tired of Voting for Rats? Vote for a Cat’, the feline is attracting tens of thousands of supporters on social media.
“He sleeps almost all day and does nothing, and that fits the profile of a politician,” said 35-year-old office worker Sergio Chamorro, who adopted the 10-month-old cat last year.
Put forth as a candidate by Chamorro and a group of friends after they became disillusioned with the empty promises of politicians, Morris’s candidacy has resonated across Mexico, where citizens frustrated with human candidates are nominating their pets and farm animals to run in the July 7 elections.
Also running for mayor are “Chon the Donkey”, “Tina the Chicken”, “Maya the Cat” and “Tintan the Dog”, though their campaigns are not as well organised.
A clever campaign and promises to donate money collected from the sales of campaign stickers and T-shirts to an animal shelter has attracted cat lovers. But Chamorro said most of his supporters are citizens tired of corrupt politicians and fraudulent elections.
“Morris has been a catalyst to show the discontent that exists in our society,” Chamorro said. “Our message from the beginning has been ‘if none of the candidates represent you, vote for the cat’ and it seems people are responding to that.”
Xalapa is a university city of 450,000 people where residents have in the last two years been beleaguered by drug violence, corruption scandals and the killings of at least nine reporters and photojournalists.
Giovanna Mazzotti, a 48-year-old university professor from the city, said she supports Morris’s campaign and plans to go to a party being held for him on Friday. The candidate is not expected to attend.
“In this state, there is no rule of law, there is no respect for human rights, there are no institutions,” Mazzotti said. “It’s great that this campaign is showing the fiction in our elections. Every three years politicians laugh at us; it’s good to laugh at them a bit, too.”
Morris has a website, a Twitter account and a Facebook page with more than 115,000 ‘likes,’ making him more popular in social networks than the five human mayoral contenders.
Morris’s campaign managers are asking supporters to write-in ‘Morris’ or draw a cat’s face on the ballot to send a message to authorities, who are not taking the cat’s growing popularity lightly.
Members of the Electoral Institute of Veracruz recently called on voters not to waste their vote on a cat.
“We are asking for people to participate by voting for those citizens registered on the ballots,” the electoral institute’s president told local media. “Everything else is part of expressions happening in social media and I respect that, but you have to vote for the registered candidates, please.”
Morris also has international supporters including Stubbs, a cat that has been the honorary mayor of the Alaska town of Talkeetna for more than 15 years.
