Well not quite yet, though things might be heading that way in Pentland Hills, Edinburgh! At the recent local government elections an independent candidate dressed in a penguin costume actually succeeded in garnering more votes than a candidate from one of the main political parties. Mike “Professor Pongoo” Ferrigan, who carried out all his political campaigning whilst dressed in the fancy dress costume, received 444 votes on the day.
That’s significantly more than the local Lib Dem candidate Stuart Bridges’s tally of just 370. Professor Pongoo also won a larger share of the vote than the local Green Party candidate. Though he missed out on winning a local government seat this time around, the intrepid Penguin suit wearer has not given up on his political ambitions. Mr Ferrigan so enjoyed bringing a sense of fun to proceedings at the local government elections that he’s not ready to hang up his Penguin fancy dress costume quite yet.
After all as he says, “Professor Pongoo for Prime Minister” has a nice ring about it! We have to say, Mr Ferrigan’s fancy dress approach to politics certainly gets our vote!
By Jennifer Humes