Darth Vader has not given up on a bid to gain power in the Ukraine, despite being rejected last month from running in the country's presidential elections. After he was turned down, it now seems that Darth Vader has turned up in Odessa, where he is hoping to become mayor of what is the third largest city in Ukraine. It has a population of over 1 million people and is a major seaport and transportation hub located on the north western shore of the Black Sea. Darth Vader, who opponents say is really an computer programmer called Aleksey Shevchenko, 27, that changed his name to Darth Vader in March, has now requested to be registered in the race for the mayorship. He came up with the idea after the national election results of the 2012 election showed that 3 per cent had voted for Darth Vader as a protest vote. At that stage Darth Vader was not a candidate. Darth Vader, who appears in the costume of the fictional character from the Star Wars films and is often accompanied by people dressed in other Star Wars outfits, told the Internet Party's congress that he wanted to turn Ukraine into "a galactic empire". Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission says parts of Darth Vader's application were "questionable" and some paperwork was probably forged. And at least one commission member suggests Darth Vader's campaign could be an attempt to discredit the upcoming election - possibly by Russia, which does not recognise the Ukraine's interim government. "It may seem like an innocent joke, but someone paid 2.5 million Hryvnia (164,000 GBP) for this joke," says Ihor Zhydenko, referring to the deposit that must be given along with the application. Darth Vader admits he has had a lot of support from Russia where he might run for the presidency after he received extensive media coverage. "They already have little green men," he says, referring to Russian troops in the Crimea region. "Such a commander-in-chief would be appropriate."

• published: 29 Apr 2014
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