Assange to run for Australian senate
AUSTRALIA: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will run for a seat in
the Australian Senate during this year's elections, his organisation
announced Wednesday, with his mother saying he would be “awesome” in the
role.
WikiLeaks unveiled the plan with a tweet that read “Australia: Julian
Assange has confirmed he will run in the 2013 national election for the
Australian Senate”, just hours after Prime Minister Julia Gillard said
the nation would go to the polls on September 14.
The 41-year-old's mother, Christine Assange, was delighted. “He will
be awesome. In the House of Representatives we get to choose between US
lackey party number one and US lackey party number two -- between the
major parties. “So it will be great to 'Assange' the Senate for some
Aussie oversight,” she was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated
Press.
Assange, who announced his intention to stand for Senate last year,
has been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London since June, after
claiming asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces
allegations of sex crimes.
Britain has refused to grant him safe passage out of the country.
The former computer hacker fears Sweden will allow him to be
extradited to the United States to be questioned over the WikiLeaks
release of thousands of US diplomatic cables.
A later WikiLeaks tweet said Queensland-born Assange would “run on
WikiLeaks party ticket”. Assange said last year that he was planning to
register a WikiLeaks party with the Australian Electoral Commission, The
Age newspaper reported at the time.
To do so he would require the support of 500 eligible voters, the
paper said, adding that if he were elected while still out of the
country a nominee would occupy the Senate seat.
It was unclear whether being elected a senator would have any bearing
on his status in Britain and whether London would allow him to leave the
country of his own accord.
Despite the allegations against him Assange remains a popular figure
in Australia.
AFP |
