Julian Assange vows to stand again for fledgling WikiLeaks Party

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Julian Assange & Richard Patino

WikiLeaks Party founder Julian Assange says he will make another Senate bid in the future after his unsuccessful attempt in this year’s ballot.

Mr Assange stood on the Victorian Senate ticket, where his party attracted 25,667 of the primary vote – representing 1.19 per cent of the overall tally.

The WikiLeaks Party was formed earlier this year and was registered in July. The party targeted the Senate with seven candidates running in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia.

Mr Assange told the ABC’s Europe correspondent Barbara Miller that he was happy with the support his party received, despite not having any success.

“I’m pleased. The party was registered exactly three months ago, and we are the second-largest vote count for the new parties after Clive Palmer’s party, which had a billion bucks behind it,” he said.

“I think that’s a pretty good outcome. It’s rather bizarre that the present calculations for my seat in Victoria show that perhaps it’s been taken by a party that has less than a third of the vote that we had,” he added, referring to the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party.

Mr Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy since June last year, said he will make another Senate bid in three or six years’ time.

He said the party was hindered by restrictions on financial transactions placed on him by American banks.

“The WikiLeaks Party will continue, for sure. I think it’s a great result, that the party was registered in July, three months ago,” he said

“It’s had a leader and primary candidate stuck in an overseas embassy for 400 days in a foreign country, nine hours’ time difference – and the international banking block aid against it – which even interfered with donations made.

“The Bank of America blocked donations from me to my own political party.”

Mr Assange said it is now back to “the real work” – publishing government documents for the WikiLeaks website.

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