[jessupjonesjnr87]

I know politics in Australia at the moment is far from stable but do a Wiki Leaks party really stand a realistic chance at securing seats in the Australian Senate, or is this just a ridiculous publicity stunt from a man with too much money and delusions of grandeur?

http://rt.com/news/assange-wikileaks-party-australia-586/

Assange launches WikiLeaks Party, to run for Senate 'to keep politicians honest'

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has formally launched the Australian WikiLeaks Party and announced its federal election candidates. Assange has now officially declared his candidacy for a seat in the Australian Senate.

Speaking via Skype from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the 41-year-old whistleblower has been holed up for more than a year due to a threat of extradition to Sweden, Assange outlined the principal policies of his political party, summed up as “Transparency. Accountability. Justice.”

He also detailed on the party’s focus on asylum seekers and climate change.

It marked the WikiLeaks Party’s official Thursday launch in Melbourne.

Assange has said his party would serve as an independent watchdog for Australian government activity.

“It’s a party to put into the Senate, to make sure whoever is put into the government does their job. It’s an insurance against the election,” he said as quoted by Australian national broadcaster ABC.

“WikiLeaks Party is a party of accountability, it’s not a party of government,” he added.

There will be seven candidates running for the Australian Senate, spanning the states of Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales. These include academics, journalists and human rights activists.

Assange himself is seeking a seat in Victoria. While not exactly sure the senate would allow him to hold office from his Ecuadorian asylum in London, the whistleblower appeared to be confident in his party’s ability to perform.

[colliric]

It's serious....

And yes they do stand a chance of an election.

[GandalfTheGrey]

do a Wiki Leaks party really stand a realistic chance at securing seats in the Australian Senate

no.

Wikileaks will be competing against Labor and Greens seats. These two parties will swap preferences with each other before they preference wikileaks. On the other side of the spectrum, none of the conservative/right wing parties will preference them for obvious reasons. Wikileak's voter base will be basically the same voter base as the Greens. They may get a lot of sympathy, but this will be from people who already have a first preference who isn't wikileaks.

I honestly can't see wikileaks even getting close to a seat - unless there is some spectacular back room preference deal with one or both of the major parties - like what happened with Steve Fielding. But considering his anti-establishment platform, this obviously seems unlikely.

[colliric]

Anything can happen....

A protest vote in Victoria could see Assange elected.

Frankly I think it would be cool if he was.

Not like they're going to have any impact once elected.

The public has elected odd candidates to the senate before.

If you think he's no chance, I think you may be approaching too much from an NSW(or other state) viewpoint. Melbourne CBD may possibly deliver him a strong primary vote in my view, enough for a senate seat. You never know, could benefit from that anti-Green backlash that took hold in 2010(State election). A Left-wing Greens-protest vote option?

If he ran for our state election he would probably be a shoe-in.
Remember that in Victoria, Labor-Green preference deals are no longer a certainty, and the old Greens leader, Bob, ruled "No Preferences ever again". Heck it was a Liberals-Greens preference deal that saw Adam Bandt elected...

[neopagan]

Although he is an MP, Peter Garrett was an equally unlikely candidate. So I would not rule out Assange.

[AVT]

I do not consider it likely, a fair portion of the electorate would have forgotten who he is and so I don't expect his primary to be very high. As others have said it will then be down to preferences, with both of the major parties unlikely to do deals with him it is very hard to see him getting over the line.

[neopagan]

Preferences! What a scam! Sorry for changing the subject.