Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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It highlights questionable election practices ahead of Ukraine’s snap elections
A Darth Vader costume, playground equipment, pastries and boxes of food are part of an exhibit at Ukraine’s National History Museum displaying the colourful behaviour and sometime-questionable practices that characterise the country’s elections. The exhibition, called “The Museum of Election Trash”, was put together ahead of the country’s snap parliamentary elections on Sunday. Ukraine is characterised by lively election campaigns unlike neighbouring Russia. One of the candidates in this year’s election is Darth Viktorovich Vader, who is running for a seat in Odessa. Another Darth Vader ran for president in 2014. The “electoral trash” collection also highlights candidates’ efforts to influence voters through gifts, with exhibits including colourful equipment for a town playground that one candidate provided to voters before an election, along with pastries and boxes of foodstuffs. The Star Wars theme continues this year with the election being widely called “Battle of the Clones”, with candidates mimicking the recently elected President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, also a former TV comic, and his Servant of the People party. Mr. Zelenskiy starred in a show with the same name and later launched his party. This time, he has urged voters to be careful not to vote for ‘copycats’.
