London (CNN)A lengthy and bitter election campaign that dragged in competing interest groups and was sullied by a voter fraud scandal came to an unlikely end on Monday, when a fat, flightless and nocturnal parrot stunned pundits to claim an upset victory.
The kakapo, officially the world's heaviest parrot, won New Zealand's Bird of the Year vote after a weeks-long campaign that rivaled human political contests in intensity.
It became the first bird to win the contest for a second time -- a feat not explicitly prohibited by the country's constitution -- and snatched victory thanks to the competition's unique and convoluted voting system, having lost the outright popular vote to the Antipodean albatross.
To read more on this story, click here: Fat, Flightless Parrot Named Bird of the Year After a Campaign Tainted by Voter Fraud

