BRASILIA, BRAZIL: Barack Obama, Bin Laden, Zidane and Father Christmas all failed in bids to win local elections held in Brazil on the weekend, officials here said.

Brazilian candidates who had been running under those easily recognizable pseudonyms on ballots in different parts of the country all found democracy an impossible hurdle to overcome, according to the Superior Electoral Court.

In all there were four would-be politicians who entered under the name "Barack Obama" or variations of the name of the black US presidential candidate - considered a hero in ethnically mixed Brazil - but none managed to secure a council seat.

The six "Bin Ladens" running also found victory as elusive as the location of the leader of Al-Qaeda.

A couple of "Zidanes" didn't score as well with voters as French former football star Zinedine Zidane used to on the field.

"Father Christmas" did pretty well in the northern city of Fortaleza, but ultimately couldn't wriggle all the way through the electoral chimney.

Another failed candidate pushing the limits was "Mama," a 103-year-old woman who was the oldest to put her name on a ticket.

Age, though, proved triumphal in the case of Jair Vieira, a 73-year-old candidate in the southern town of Dom Cavalcanti who got the exact same number of votes - 1,919 - as the mayor he was seeking to replace.

Under Brazil's election rules, the oldest candidate in that situation wins. And that was bad news for the 42-year-old incumbent.