Meet the animals who are in charge and the fire hydrant which ran for office

There's nothing quite like a cute dog to unite the internet - but now they're taking over the world.

Duke has been voted mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota, for the third time.

He is said to have won by a landslide vote, only losing one ballot paper to his "girlfriend" according to David Rick, Duke's owner.

Rick told local ABC station WDAY: "Three years ago, it happened by accident, it was a write in vote. You pay a dollar and you can vote."

He isn't the only dog to become a mayor.

There's also Junior Cochran, a black Labrador, who was voted into office in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, in 2004.

And we can't forget Bosco the dog, mayor of Sunol, California, from 1981 until 1994.

There's even a memorial statue in his honour.

The cats are also getting in on the game

Stubbs apologises for lack of tweets.

Stubbs the cat was elected mayor in Talkeetna, Alaska, in 1997 - or as he puts it on Twitter...

"I'm a cat. I was elected Mayor in Alaska. Soon, I will become president."

Don't forget the goats, rhinos and chimps

In 1959, five-year-old rhino Cacareco won the Sao Paulo mayoral vote by a landslide.

Cacareco, which means "rubbish" in Portuguese, was set up as a protest vote against political corruption.

The rhino didn't get to take the seat though after another election was held.

Cacareco the rhino won the election in 1959.

It's starting to feel like we're making this up, but Whangamomona in New Zealand elected president Billy Gumboot the goat in 1999.

He was the first animal to be elected to the district but he wasn't the last - Billy was succeeded by Tai the Poodle.

They're now governed by their first female president, Vicki Pratt.

Whangamomona is known for its interesting presidents.

Tiao the Chimpanzee's slogan "Vote monkey - get monkey" didn't quite get him the majority in the Rio de Janeiro mayoral election - but it did get him a statue.

And we're just as bad over here...

Not only have we awarded King penguin Nils Olav the status of Brigadier, but we let him complete associated duties.

And Mandu, a cat from the UK, served as joint leader of Britain's Official Monster Raving Loony Party from 1999 to 2002.

He is the only cat to have ever led a political party.

On their website is says: "It was a two sided race between Howling 'Laud' Hope and Cat Mandu.

"The voting was very close. They both got 112 votes each. It was decided that they should both become Joint Leaders, the first political party to be ruled by man and beast."

"Alas Cat Mandu met a lorry one day and unfortunately the lorry won."

Our elected candidates don't even have to be alive

It may not have been successful but it's pretty funny... in 2004 at the University of British Columbia a fire hydrant ran for a position on the Board of Governors.

Apparently it came within six votes of being elected.

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