Caelainn Hogan
For those without a passion for politics or a vested interest, let’s face it, elections can be dull affairs. It often boils down to a broken record of self promotion: the same policies and promises reeled off day after day, regurgitated by the media and fed back to us in an endless cycle of being ‘made aware’ of something which can often seem to be completely inconsequential to our own self-concerned existence. The joke candidate or joke party are a breath of fresh air in an often claustrophobic environment of leaflets and garish promotional t-shirts. Whether the motive is political satire, publicity or just pure absurd novelty, the joke candidate is a unique addition to the electoral environment. Much like our own Aaron Heffernan’s proposed campus panther, the joke candidate is a unique specimen to observe, highlighting the latent theatricality of politics, and sometimes proving a unique force to be reckoned with.
Joke parties are a global political phenomenon. In America, the Guns and Dope Party, is based on the idea that if right wing gun fanatics and left wing potheads could join forces, they’d form an unbeatable majority. In Northern and Eastern Europe, parties whose policies revolve around their love for beer seem to be the trend, including the Polish Beer Lover’s Party, the Ukranian Beer Lover’s Party, the Beer Unity Party in Norway, and the Beer Lover’s Party in Russia. The Beer Lover’s Party of Belarus was aptly liquidated in 1998. Israel, hardly famous for political lightheartedness, had a food manufacturer, Pikanti, contest the 1992 election as an advertising scheme. Independent candidate Jim Tallon is Ireland’s representative, veteran of 13 elections since his first in 1981and continuing his fight this year for a “world without money”, he is the self appointed president of“Independent Republic of Glasnost“, the farm from which he operates his campaign.
The UK is by far the most prolific in the political piss-take, with such absurdities as the Miss Great Brit- ain Party, whose candidates, mostly contestants of national beauty contest, plan to “make Westminster sexy”. The Church of the Militant Elvis Party is a “semi-religious” party who still believes the King is alive, safeguarded in an old folk’s home somewhere in Lincolnshire. Their relatively serious aim is to “combat the influence of various right-wing churches on mainstream parties in the U.K”. The Monster Raving Loony Party is probably the best known, with its wild head gear, eccentric apparel and its plethora of policies a veritable treasure of tongue in cheek political satire. Their policy on ‘Scary Terrorists’ promises to “Ban all terrorists from having beards as they look scary” and under their policy of ‘Political Correctness’, The Isle of Wight will be changed to “The Isle of Mixed Races, and Cultures Located off the Coast of Britain.” It’s a wonder their candidate for Barking has never been successful.
It is not unheard of for a joke candidate to actually steal the show. Just last summer, the Icelandic comedian Jon Gnarr became mayor of Reykjavik after his farcical campaign, which promised free towels at public swimming pools, a drug free parliament by 2020 and Disneyland at the airport, ended in victory. Gnarr is founder of the satirical Best Party, who’s theme song is Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the Best’, and which claims all political parties are secretly corrupt so it will be openly so, honouring no promises made prior to an election. Since he has been elected, Gnarr has appeared at the annual gay pride parade in full drag and posed as Darth Vader in a Santa hat for a holiday greeting video. It’s not all fun and games however, with the comedian-come-mayor protesting the treatment of human rights activist Liu Xiaobo to the Chinese authorities.
If Aaron Heffernan’s campaign has proved anything during this SU election it is the power of a good joke. Not the first joke candidate in Trinity to woo “the masses”, as Hef- fernan would say, his campaign is probably the most dedicated and potentially successful. Last year saw two joke candidates run in the SU elections, Dave Preston for Education and Conor O’ Toole for Ents. Preston, who claimed to be a SS Protestant Studies student, with a minor in Catholic repression, fo- cused on returning Trinity to its Protestant glory, warning students of an underground group of paedophiles operating in Trinity, and confessed to being a vigilante, targeting “knackers” using Trinity as a thoroughfare to the DART as well as a fighter of dragons. He won only 495 votes. O’ Toole’s policies included a Fresher’s week promise “to sleep with as many 1st years as possible” and a pledge to revamp Trinity’s “appalling tea facilities”, winning 1,000 votes.
Aaron Heffernan has been the most successful joke candidate in Trinity in a long time, but he’s not the first. Photo: Tom Lowe
So what makes the Heff’s campaign different? So far, results. The University Times’s second election poll published on the 10th saw Heffernan become the odds-on favour- ite, 15 points ahead of Ryan Bartlett, now his only competition after Seb LeCocq opted out of the race on Friday. It seems the “joke candidate”, has serious electoral support. While there’s no contesting the merits of “decobbilisation”, personal doctors and panthers roaming the cricket pitch, it is unlikely the “I guess we can?” funny man will actually assume the responsibility of the SU President role, if elected, but that’s missing the point. In an interview with the University Times, Heffernan’s campaign manager Matt Smyth explained that the motive behind the campaign was simply to combat the “aggressively apathetic” approach students take to the SU election, stating that “the student apathy when it comes to these elections is criminal”. Smyth described how “at the first hustings we did, [Aaron] just turned to me and said: why is there no one here?” Realising the campaign’s potential early on, the policies concerning the student loan program and transparency of SU accounts were added as “moral justification”. Heffernan’s comic ex- ploits, from his public “openings” and body guard entourage to a gig in the SU bookshop where Heffernan got in touch with his inner Stevie Wonder, have, according to Matt, achieved greater publicity for the election as well as the issues raised by his fellow candidates, and has “mobilized” students. He says “more people are coming to hustings, more people are taking an interest, and it’s a pity that it has to be like that, but it means there’s some good in what we’re doing, as well as being a lot of fun!”
Indeed, the loveable charlatan seems to be single handedly promoting the upcoming Provostial and SU debate, with 139 people “attending” the Facebook event Heffernan’s campaign set up, and even graduates and those studying abroad are fans. The campaign has had “literally no negative reactions”, fellow candidates have been “up for the banter” and Electoral Commission secretary Jen Fox is supposedly a big fan. As for Heffernan, he is “no partisan to anything.” He is “blissfully ignorant” and his campaign team is “slowly teaching Aaron the issues involved”. This ‘joke’ campaign is definitely striking a chord and mak- ing the significant point that if, as a student, you don’t make an educated vote in an election that determines a union solely comprised to serve your needs, well, the joke’s on you.
