A french bulldog has beaten off stiff competition from a beagle, a golden retriever, a donkey, a cat and a rooster to become a US town's mayor in the "most important election of 2020".

The vote, which unlike the US Presidential election is not being contested, took place in the town of Rabbit Hash, Boone County, Kentucky, which is home to less than 500 people and has had an animal mayoral election since 1998.

A six-month-old French bulldog named Wilbur Beast prevailed in a landslide to become the town's new mayor.

Wilbur received 13,143 votes and beat incumbent mayor Mayor Brynn, a pit bull named Brynneth Pawltro, who was elected in 2016 but has clearly left the town unhappy at his leadership after bringing in just 292 votes this time around.

The elections, which aren't official, raise money for the Rabbit Hash Historical Society with anyone wishing to vote needing to donate $1, and which this year raised more than $23,000.

Jack Rabbit, the Beagle, and Poppy, the golden retriever, came in second and third making them both Rabbit Hash Ambassadors along with Ambassador Lady Stone, who will retain her position from the previous election.

In a post on Facebook, Lady Stone wrote: "The results are in from the most important election that happened this year!!

"Mayor Wilbur of Rabbit Hash KY is the winner of the Rabbit Hash mayoral election 2020!!!!

• 

  Brit town issues 'stay away from swans' warning after outbreak of deadly bird flu

"We look forward to working with Wilbur and Amy Noland!! congrats you guys!!

"Huge shoutout to the other candidates who helped this year. Your work will help preserve this historic town for years to come."

The tradition started when Boone County, which governs Rabbit Hash, celebrated its 200th anniversary in 1998 and asked all the mayors within the county to honour that birthday.

But Rabbit Hash is so small that it didn't have a mayor so the town elected an animal instead.

Originally, whichever animal was elected stayed in office until they died but that changed in 2016 after they needed to raise funds following a local fire.

Now the elections happen every four years to coincide with the race for the White House.

This year's Mayoral Race was said to be more contested than ever with one candidate reportedly hosting their own music event in an attempt to try and win voters over.

Speaking to the Washington Post, Bobbi Kayser, the president of the historical society said: "We think this is the most important election of 2020.

"They asked all the mayors to honour that birthday, but Rabbit Hash didn’t have a mayor. We decided that the best way to get a mayor was to hold our own election."

He added: "One candidate even had a live music event. Everybody puts up signs, and they are hilarious."

Source: Read Full Article