Move over, Tom Jones — you have competition in Peru’s Amazon basin, where a balding, middle-aged candidate is sending female fans into a knicker-throwing frenzy.
Once almost unknown outside his remote province of Maynas, where he is campaigning to become mayor, Charles Zevallos has earned fame as the “kissing candidate” for his practice of puckering up for supporters. Now he is generating a sensation worthy of the Welsh crooner, as adoring women at rallies take off their underwear and throw it to him on stage.
The phenomenon began a few days ago at a rally for his progressive party, 1000 Movimiento Integración Loretana. In videos posted on YouTube — where he has become an overnight hit — hordes of female supporters scream, as some members of the crowd begin to remove their intimate items and fling them to an apparently appreciative candidate.
“They’re very warm. I’m going to keep these as a souvenir,” Mr Zevallos says as he dangles a flimsy red pair in front of squealing fans before slipping them into his pocket. “Give me a child, I want your child!” the delighted owner shouts.
“It was spontaneous — I didn’t ask for them but then I saw a pair of yellow ones, and then another woman threw another pair at me,” Mr Zevallos said. “I don’t know if this will stop. It’s really crazy here right now. The people love me.”
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Mr Zevallos has made a tradition of giving gifts such as electric fans, watches or footballs at his rallies in exchange for kisses from the ladies.
While some supporters — from the young to the more advanced in years — content themselves with a timid peck on the lips, others opt for a passionate, open-mouthed embrace, often tussling with one another to get to the front of the queue. Since the underwear craze caught on, bras have also made an appearance, mingling with the thongs and briefs raining down on the campaign stage.
The candidate has played down any comparison to Tom Jones, who became synonymous with women’s knickers after being showered with them during his performances. However, he delights in telling of how women fight for his kisses, his website boasting that admirers “fall at his feet when he comes out on stage”.
“The other day I was walking down the Putumayo and I said hello to a woman. She called me over to give me a kiss, and when I went over I kissed her on the cheek, but she turned her face to me and said she wanted it on the mouth,” he was quoted as saying in the local press.
The politician — who has a healthy lead in the mayoral race on the back of the sensation surrounding his campaign — has also attracted criticism.
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Gift-giving is not uncommon in Latin American elections but Mr Zevallos has been accused of taking advantage of the poor and vulnerable with his gifts-for-kisses routine, while commentators in Lima, the capital, say the underwear-throwing is proof that politics in the country has reached a new low.
Mr Zevallos rejects such critics. “There’s nothing bad about it,” he said, adding that his wife was not jealous. “Three years ago, I spoke to my family and I told them that my campaign would get positive and negative comments and you just have to accept it.
“I don’t see anything bad in giving kisses on the mouth. Besides, the women ask me for it as a show of affection.”
He dismissed those objecting as prudish, suggesting that they simply did not understand the passion of his Amazon region. “What’s happening is that the Limeos [people from Lima] are making a scandal because they are just teases — they kiss and they don’t do anything,” he said, chuckling.