DONETSK, Ukraine – The Force was not with Darth Vader on Sunday.
The Sith Lord, a candidate in Ukraine’s parliamentary elections, was banned from voting after he refused to remove his mask at a polling station in Kiev, causing a fracas with officials who he blamed for depriving him of his right to vote.
Vader, who the Central Election Commission said had legally changed his name, is running on the Internet Party of Ukraine’s ticket, along with Chewbacca and a slew of other Star Wars characters. In one of the party's campaign ads, Vader appears playing the "Imperial March" on a traditional Ukrainian bandura.
Video footage published on Sunday by Radio Svoboda, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service, shows Vader rolling up to a polling station atop a black van, with “Imperial March” blaring from a mounted speaker, before flashing his passport to an election official inside who asks him to remove his mask.
After refusing to do so, Vader is denied a ballot paper and then storms off, saying he is “disappointed.”
A video posted to Vine by Russia Today shows Vader snatching his passport from the official’s hands.
Speaking to supporters outside, Vader took on a more optimistic tone. “The fact that I did not vote does not mean that my empire will not win,” he said.
In the run-up to elections, Vader had promised voters that if he should enter parliament, he would usher in an electronic government, and transform Ukraine into a “Galactic Empire.”
“When I get to parliament, I will expel all the deputies. They have proven their uselessness,” he said. “Computers will work in their place, and they will fulfill their functions without cease.”
Vader, the electrician-turned-intergalactic warlord previously known as Viktor Shevchenko, may not have removed his mask on Sunday, but he did at least once previously, in order to register with the Central Elections Commission.
An Associated Press reporter in Kiev found his mug shot on a ballot, and posted a photo of it on Twitter. It also shows the faces behind the masks of Yoda, Padme Amidala, Chewbacca and Palpatine.
Darth Vader unmasked: Ukraine parliament hopeful exposes face at polling station. Chewbacca quite accurate though pic.twitter.com/OGEsm77OL1— pete_leonard (@pete_leonard) October 26, 2014
Vader’s refusal to remove his mask has cost him before. In May, Central Elections Commission officials denied him the right to run for president because he wouldn’t show his face.
Before Sunday, pollsters predicted that Vader’s party had little chance of winning seats in parliament, much to the dismay of Ukraine’s Star Wars fans and those hoping the country would move to the dark side.