A 45-year-old politician named Hitler Mussolini Simeón Flores has emerged as the winner of a mayoral election in Peru by just 25 votes, drawing international attention for sharing his first names with two of history’s most notorious dictators.
Simeón Flores secured 229 votes, or 34.54% of valid ballots, in the mayoral race in Queropalca, a small district in Peru’s Andes mountains. He defeated Gaspar Benilde Osorio Zambrano of the right-wing Renovación Popular party, who received 204 votes.
The leading candidate ran under the center-left Ahora Nación party, despite bearing the names of Adolf Hitler, who led Nazi Germany, and Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator who ruled Italy.
According to figures from Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), 663 valid ballots were cast in the district, located in the province of Lauricocha in the Huánuco region. Third-place candidate Itala Yovana Santillán Vara received 187 votes, leaving just 42 votes separating the three leading contenders.
Simeón Flores was born on August 6, 1981, in Queropalca, according to his electoral declaration filed with Peru’s National Jury of Elections (JNE).
His political background also includes a previous affiliation with Fuerza Popular, a right-wing Peruvian political party. He resigned from the party in 2025 before running under the center-left Ahora Nación banner.
Simeón Flores currently leads the completed vote count in Queropalca, with his victory awaiting formal proclamation by Peru’s electoral authorities.
Despite the international attention surrounding his unusual name, Simeón Flores is not the first Peruvian politician named Hitler to win a local election.
In 2018, Hitler Guesclin Alba Sánchez was reelected mayor of Yúngar, defeating a rival named Lenin Vladimir Rodríguez Valverde. Alba became known by the nickname “the good Hitler.”
