Voters in the small Andean district of Queropalca in Peru have elected a mayor whose name combines those of two 20th-century dictators: Hitler Mussolini Simeon Flores. The 45-year-old won the municipal race on a centre-left party ticket, securing 229 votes — 34.5% of the 663 valid ballots.

Flores, running for the centre-left Ahora Nacion party, defeated his closest rival, Gaspar Benilde Osorio Zambrano of Renovacion Popular, by just 25 votes. Osorio Zambrano received 204 votes, while Itala Yovana Santillan Vara of Pais para Todos took 187 votes. A total of 707 votes were registered in the district: 663 valid, 30 blank and 14 null.

The election, held on October 4, took place in Queropalca, a remote district in Lauricocha province in the Huanuco region north of Lima, with an estimated population of just over 730 people.

An unusual name, acknowledged

The full name of the elected mayor incorporates those of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, a coincidence the Ahora Nacion party itself highlighted on its website, noting it matched the Nazi leader of Germany and the Italian dictator and founder of fascism. Born in Queropalca in 1981, Flores insists the name is his real one, given by his parents at birth. He previously stood for the far-right Fuerza Popular party, resigning last year, and manages the Simeon Sac investment group in Pillco Marca.

Local media described the name as a “peculiarity”. But it is not uncommon in Peru for parents to choose historic or otherwise unusual names for their children regardless of negative connotations — newspaper La Republica reports that around 2,349 Peruvians share the Nazi leader’s name.

Not the first Peruvian “Hitler”

Flores is not the first politician with such a name to win office in the country. Hitler Guesclin Alba Sanchez was elected mayor of Yungar in 2018, campaigning under the slogans “Hitler returns” and “Hitler with the people”, and said his father had not known about the dictator’s legacy when naming him. The late lawmaker Hitler Saavedra served in Peru’s Congress from 2021 until his death in 2024.

The vote came as part of regional and municipal elections held across Peru following the presidential victory of right-wing candidate Keiko Sofia Fujimori.