Siberian Town Seeks To Elect Cat As Mayor

The cat’s out of the bag and, apparently, running for political office. The residents of Barnaul, a Siberian town, are so fed up with the corruption of their current officials that they want to vote in a a Scottish-Fold cat as mayor.

The 18-month-old feline, Barsik, is leading all candidates (human and otherwise) in an unofficial online poll, with 91 percent of the 5,400 votes. The city is home to 700,000 people. The previous mayor of the town, which is located a little over 2,000 miles from Moscow, was forced to resign due to abuse of power allegations.

“People don’t know who to trust any more,” local pensioner Yevgeny Kuznetsov said. “They have come to the conclusion that they can’t trust the authorities.”

The anonymous poll was launched earlier this month on Russian social network Vk.

Barsik’s campaign slogan is, “Only mice don’t vote for Barsik.”

Apparently, this is the season of the political outsider. Just ask Donald Trump.

"Barsik's own motives and intentions have been made clear by several popular videos of him yawning and batting at a small feathery toy."

— Fruzsina Eördögh (@FruzsE) December 18, 2015