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Campaign wants Barack Obama to run for French president

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, February 27, 2017

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Campaign wants Barack Obama to run for French president President Barack Obama waves on stage with first lady Michelle Obama, daughter Malia, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden after his farewell address at McCormick Place in Chicago, the US, on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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

"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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