In a formal reprimand published internally on June 18 and seen by POLITICO, the Bank's election committee sanctioned a candidate running for the staff committee, Jan Kuchta, over a campaign email sent to all ECB staff in which he styled himself as "Admiral General Jan Aladeen Kuchta" and appeared in AI-generated military uniforms adorned with European symbols.

The election committee, made up of seven randomly drawn members representing different levels of seniority among employees, concluded that while election campaigns may use "parody, sarcasm and irony," Kuchta's effort had crossed the line in his apparent attempts to mimic Sacha Baron Cohen's character "Aladeen" in the 2012 movie The Dictator.

By using a parody name, militaristic imagery, hyperbolic language and mixing "plausible statements together with visibly exaggerated or even impossible campaign claims," the campaign exceeded "the degree of rhetorical exaggeration compatible" with ECB ethical standards, the committee found.

Kuchta, who is an IT development specialist at the central bank, promised in his manifesto to replace social dialogue with "Mandatory Proletarian Solidarity Sessions," to ensure he won with "100 percent of the vote," and to introduce "Corrective Wellbeing Audits" for staff whose thinking had not yet aligned with official doctrine.

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As for Kuchta's pledge to win 100 percent of the vote, he failed miserably in the elections held Tuesday, according to results seen by POLITICO. While he managed to double his score compared to the last election round, his 630 votes left him 13th out of 15 candidates and failed to secure him a seat on the committee.