If a group of voters in France have their way, their country’s next president will be a man who already has executive office experience: former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Voters circulating a petition are attempting to collect 1 million signatures by March 15 in order to persuade the former president to run for France's highest office, Time reported.
"Barack Obama has the best resume in the world for the job," according to the site, called Obama 17. "Because at a time when France is about to vote massively for the extreme right, we can still give a lesson of democracy to the planet by electing a French President, a foreigner."
According to NBC, 27,000 people have signed the petition and signs touting Obama have been found all over Paris. One of the site's founders told NBC that he thought up the idea for the campaign with four friends "after a drink."
"It's totally crazy, but the cool thing is that once you get past that, you start thinking that maybe it's possible. Who cares that he's not French? He's Barack Obama," one of the campaign organizers told CNN.
Yes, it's a joke, said the organizer, who would only give his name as Antoine — but one with a serious purpose.
"We want to show that people are fed up with the politicians here. People are tired about it and they like this joke. It gives people a little fun amid all these scandals," he said.
French voters go to the polls April 23 in the first round of voting for a new president. If no one gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will have a runoff on May 7.
Polls suggest that Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front party, will top the field in the first round, but won't get a majority, CNN reported.
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