Look out, France, there’s a new candidate in town: Barack Obama.
The Obama17 campaign aims to gather 1 million signatures by mid-March in hopes to get the former American president on the ballot in time for the French presidential election in May.
"We hope to elect a foreign president as the head of our beautiful country," the Obama17 website explains. “Barack Obama has completed his second term as president of the United States ... why not hire him as a president for France?”
Read also: Spotify posts special job vacancy for US President Obama
Mon dieu! There's a grassroots movement to get Barack Obama to run for President...of France! https://t.co/P7agpipilD pic.twitter.com/ir0kHcR4Ja
— Russell Drew (@RussOnPolitics) February 23, 2017
"Barack Obama has the best resume in the world for the job," the site continues. "At a time when France is about to vote for the extreme right, we can still give a lesson of democracy by electing a foreigner to be a French president.”
The campaign has received 27,000 signatures so far, and posters urging people to sign the petition have been posted all over the country’s capital.
While Obama would not be qualified to run, as he is not a citizen of France, one of the campaign organizers told CNN, "it's totally crazy, but the cool thing is that once you get past that, you start thinking that maybe it's possible. Who cares that he's not French? He's Barack Obama.” (sul/kes)
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