I, for one, welcome our new feline overlords.

Deep down, you knew this day would come. It was a looming fate; an inescapable truth. And now the inevitable has begun: cats are running in democratic elections.

Barsik is an 18-month-old Scottish Fold cat, and also the current frontrunner in the polls for Barnaul’s next city mayor. Earlier in the week, popular Siberian social media page Altai Online found Barsik beat six human candidates by winning 91% of more than 5,400 votes.

The previous mayor, Igor Savintsev, resigned back in August after a number of corruption allegations went public, while his son Maxim is currently awaiting trial on fraud and embezzlement charges. According to locals, this is part of why they would literally rather a cat in charge of city hall than another politician.

“People don’t know who to trust any more,” local pensioner Yevgeny Kuznetsov told the Guardian. “They have come to the conclusion that they can’t trust the authorities.”

“Altai Farmer”, an anonymous administrator of the poll who is crowd-funding a billboard of Barsik that reads “Only mice don’t vote for Barsik!” to go in the city centre, said: “Residents doubt their [politicians’] competence and professionalism. And they have a right to do so.”

Sadly, despite Barsik’s immense popularity and very good Instagram account, the city council and regional governor Alexander Karlin will most likely appoint a human mayor during their commission next week.

Barsik might not be capable of officially winning an election, but it’s pretty clear where the people of Barnaul’s loyalties now lay.

–

Story h/t the Guardian.