6 Nicolás Zúñiga y Miranda (Mexico)
“The Perpetual candidate”: lost 10 times, yet considered himself to be the legitimate president
Nicolás Zúñiga y Miranda (1865 – 1925) was a Mexican eccentric who was famous for being a perennial candidate in his country’s presidential elections. Although he never managed to win a significant share of the votes, he considered himself to be the victor every time. He was a candidate ten times: 1892, 1896, 1900, 1904, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1917, 1920 and 1924 and also tried to run for a seat in the Congress of Mexico at least twice. The eccentric Zúñiga never got more than a few votes, but always claimed to have been the victim of fraud and considered himself to be the legitimate president.
It was said that Zúñiga honestly believed he was elected by the people, and turned into a popular figure in Mexico City. He was often invited for parties, in restaurants or for other public events, in which the population treated him as if he really were the president.
