He may be both dead and a primate - but a sign spotted on a street in Invercargill shows he's making an unlikely push to become the South Island town's new mayor.

The sign, which reads 'Ticks out for Harambe' - a play on the peculiarly common phrase 'D***s out for Harambe' - is the latest in a string of memes that belatedly emerged after the gorilla's death.

A photo of the sign was posted on social media platform Reddit on Thursday, where it received more than 550 upvotes in less than eight hours.

It is not yet known how Harambe was able to enter the mayoralty race, given he is no longer alive and is unlikely to even have the mental capacity to know what an election is, let alone pick out Invercargill on a map.

Harambe was a silverback gorilla shot and killed at a US zoo in June, when a boy snuck into his enclosure and was dragged around by the animal. Its passing sparked a popular internet meme.

A number of events have been created in memory of the gorilla, most notably 'Pop a Manu off the Harbour Bridge for Harambe', which saw a huge surge in popularity on Facebook last month before being cancelled.

Newshub.