Julian Assange plans to run for Senate seat in Australia

Julian Assange plans to run for Senate seat in Australia

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has revealed his intention to run for a Senate seat in the 2013 Australian federal election. Assange, 41, said plans to set up a WikiLeaks political party were "significantly advanced" and had received support from a number of "worthy people" in his home country.

In an interview with Fairfax Media, he said his party would promote openness in government and politics and combat growing intrusions on individual privacy. He said he would be eligible to register as an overseas voter in either New South Wales or Victoria and would shortly take a "strategic decision" about which state he would contest.

Assange, who was born in Queensland, has been holed up inside Ecuador's embassy in London since June in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations. He has stated he would happily go to Stockholm, providing the Swedish government guaranteed he would not be extradited on to the US.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/dec/13/julian-assange-senate-seat-australia?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038