Campaign for Barack Obama to run for French president receives over 40,000 signatures

If you did think support for former US president Barack Obama only lies in America and no where else, you should think again following the latest development in France where there has been a new push for Obama to run French presidency.

A petition calling for Obama to run in the April and May 2017 France presidential election was launched on Monday in France by The Obama17 campaign, which aims to get 1 million signatures by March 15 in hopes to get Obama's name on the ballot in time for the election in May has received more than 42, 600 signatures as at Tuesday February 28. See campaign here.

"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?”

Posters of Obama have also flooded the streets of Paris in what started as a joke by four friends pretending to launch a campaign for the former US president.

Though the former US president cannot legally run in the next French election, the organisers, who came up with the idea over a beer, say they are well aware of the fact but are hoping to make a statement adding that they launched the website and began posting Obama17 posters around Paris because they were disenchanted with the candidates running in France's election.

 

The organizers who said they are not aligned with any political party said they have placed 500 "Obama for president" posters around Paris, each with the slogan "Oui on peut" ("Yes we can").