As the world reacts to British Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to schedule a snap election for June, the fallout has brought some wild characters out of the woodwork. None more so than Julian Assange, who asked his Twitter followers: “Should I run in the UK general election? The government has detained me without charge for seven years.”
Should I run in the UK general election? The government has detained me without charge for seven years:https://t.co/0VmWWBCxfC
— Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) April 19, 2017
The four options may reveal more about Assange’s thinking than anything else. The 45-year-old Australian founder of WikiLeaks has lived at the Ecuadorian embassy in London under protection of political asylum since 2012.
“Yes. Do it! That’d be fun.”
“Yes, mock them globally.”
“No. Really US + EU fault.”
“No. Way bigger fish.”
Over 6,600 votes have been cast, and some Twitter users are calling BS, pointing out that Assange is ineligible to vote, not to mention run:
People with outstanding arrest warrants, who have skipped bail cannot run for election in the UK. Politics 101. Where is the real Julian?
— Mandrake (@meowshrodinger) April 19, 2017
Other users provided snarky additional options for his poll:
https://twitter.com/LeightonEarly/status/854620974100221952
https://twitter.com/BettyEC91/status/854707677376786433
A number of Twitter users fact-checked his “detention”:
https://twitter.com/utopiadisytopia/status/854638169547001856
https://twitter.com/AlexMLeo/status/854676908025446400
https://twitter.com/mikeyfranklin/status/854762682418954242
https://twitter.com/KristianStupid/status/854634740342587392
Is hiding out at the Ecuadorean embassy really being detained by British government?
— Allison Beaumont 🐈⬛ (@AJ_Beaumont) April 19, 2017
While still others provided sound considerations:
Unsure! @Wikileaks is clean. Politics is dirty. If you stand, do so as an independent MP.No party. Stand on press freedom
— FREE ASSANGE NOW (@AssangeFreedom) April 19, 2017
The upcoming British elections were already of front-page importance, but with Assange as an additional wild card, it’s going to be doubly interesting.