Assange’s Senate Run Worries Greens

Last March, the infamous WikiLeaks founder has announced that he plans to run for Senate in the next federal election. The move is worrying Greens as Julian Assange’s win can cause the party’s a Senate seat. 

A survey conducted by the UMR Research showed that 25 percent of the respondents said they are likely to vote for Assange if he runs for Senate. 61 percent of the respondents, meanwhile, said they will not vote for him while 14 percent said they are not yet sure. 

The poll, covering 1,000 respondents, was contracted by the Labor Party for internal polling. 

The results also showed that Assange has a better chance at winning in New South Wales rather than in his native province Victoria. Assange received the highest support from Green voters with 66 percent saying they look at the WikiLeaks founder on a positive light. 

Close to 40 percent of the Greet voters also said they are likely to vote for Assange in next Senate election. Pollster John Utting said the poll results clearly show that Assange, despite the controversies surrounding him, has a strong possibility of winning a Senate seat. 

Assange is on house arrest in London. Aside from the controversies from WikiLeaks, Assange is also facing sexual assault charges in Sweden. The charges were allegedly filed by two different women. 

Although Assange was born in Australia, he has not lived in the country since he founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He spent many years in other countries like Tanzania, France, Germany, Iceland, among others.