A man named Hitler Mussolini Simeon Flores has won the mayoral race in Queropalca, a remote district in the Peruvian Andes, drawing international attention to a community of roughly 1,000 people. The 45-year-old ran for the centre-left Ahora Nación party and won a narrow victory in Peru's local elections, according to exit polls and data from the national elections office.
Simeon received 229 votes, about 34% of those cast, putting him 25 votes ahead of his closest rival. Sources differ slightly on that rival's identity: the BBC described the runner-up as a candidate from the right-wing Renovación Popular Perú, while Belgium's VRT NWS named him as Gaspar Osorio, a far-right candidate, with 204 votes out of 663 counted at the time of its report. Elections office data showed a little over 700 people took part in the vote. Simeon was born in the district, which lies in the central department of Huánuco, about 360 kilometres (224 miles) from the capital, Lima.
His forenames are those of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, the German Nazi and Italian Fascist dictators. Local outlet Peru21 called his candidacy a "striking event", given the association with two of the best-known figures of 20th-century European totalitarianism.
The case is not unique in Peru. Hitler Alba Sánchez was elected mayor of Yúngar in 2018 after campaigning under the slogan "I'm the good Hitler", defeating a rival named Lenin Vladimir Rodríguez Valverde. In 2021, a doctor named Hitler Saavedra Casternoque was elected to the Peruvian parliament. A politician named Adolf Hitler Uunona also drew attention in 2020 after winning local elections in Namibia, a former German colony where Adolf and other Germanic first names are not uncommon.
Why such names exist is part of the explanation. According to VRT NWS, first names such as Hitler, but also Lenin, Stalin or Mao, occasionally appear in South America, particularly in rural and remote regions like Queropalca. In some cases parents choose a historical name for their child without truly knowing the figure or the ideology associated with it.
The sources do not suggest that the result reflects any political sympathy for fascism. The attention stems largely from the name itself, while the vote involved a small electorate choosing a local leader in a tight contest.