Julian Assange to Run for Office

Posted on Feb 13, 2013

Abode of Chaos (CC BY 2.0)

From his de facto prison in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, the WikiLeaks founder intends to seek a seat in the Australian Senate as a member of the newly formed WikiLeaks Party, reports the Australian daily The Age.

The federal election in Australia will take place Sept. 14. Australian citizens living overseas are allowed to run for office if they left their home country within the last three years and intend to return within six years of their departure date.

Assange said that if he was elected to the Senate and was unable to come back to Australia, a WikiLeaks Party nominee would fill the vacancy.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

The Age:

The party, not yet registered with the Australian Electoral Commission, has an initial 10-member national council comprised of close associates of Mr Assange and pro-WikiLeaks activists. Its constitution highlights the promotion of openness and transparency in government and business.

Opinion polls last year by UMR Research, the company the Labor Party uses for its internal polling, suggest that Mr Assange could be a competitive Senate candidate in Victoria.

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