The word pagliaccio comes from paglia 'straw'. A word for 'puppet' is fantoccio, cf. un argomento fantoccio 'a straw-man argument'. A word for 'scarecrow' is lo spauracchio, which can be used metaphorically to mean 'bogeyman'. Lo spettro del fascismo è diventato uno spauracchio.
What does "AT the elections" mean in this sentence. Does this mean the two clowns were candidates in the election? If yes, I think this is better expressed in English as "There were two clowns IN the election".