Brazil Goes Where America Has Only Dreamed: Clown Elected To Congress

A Brazilian clown has been elected to the national Congress with twice as many votes as any other candidate.

Tiririca, or Francisco Oliveira Silva to give him his real name, was elected as a federal deputy for Sao Paulo with more than 1.3 million votes. Tiririca, or "Grumpy", had slogans such as: "It can't get any worse." Tiririca won 1,353,355 votes - well ahead of the next best-supported politician, former Rio state governor Antony Garotinho, who took more than 694,000 votes to be elected a federal deputy for the state. "What does a federal deputy do? Truly, I don't know. But vote for me and I will find out for you," was one of his messages.

Tiririca's candidacy had been challenged on the grounds that he may be illiterate, but election authorities ruled that he can be removed after taking office if proven to be unable to read or write. His below campaign ad has gotten over five million views on YouTube.