Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images file
In this file picture taken on Dec. 20, 2012 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addresses members of the media and supporters from the window of the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge, west London.
By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News
Julian Assange Tuesday took the first step toward a Senate run in the Australian state of Victoria as a member of the newly formed WikiLeaks Party, Australian daily The Age reported.
Assange, an activist and founder of the non-profit organization WikiLeaks, which publishes classified information and news leaks from anonymous sources, is poised to run in the Sept. 14 federal election.
According to The Age, Assange's electoral enrollment application was submitted to the Australian Electoral Commission in Melbourne by WikiLeaks supporters, including Assange's father, John Shipton.
Shipton said the enrollment was ''a first step'' in a political campaign that would focus on ''the democratic requirement of truthfulness from government.''
This first step in the process Assange initiated is the equivalent of voter registration in the United States. Becoming the WikiLeaks candidate will require the party's nomination, Graeme Orr, professor at the University of Queensland and an Assange adviser, told Mashable.?
The WikiLeaks party is not yet registered with the country's electoral commission. Registration would require that 500 members who are listed on the electoral roll be confirmed, according to The Age.
Australian citizens living overseas may register to vote -- and, implicitly, run for office at home -- if they left Australia within the past three years prior to the election and plan to return within six years of their departure, The Age reported.
Assange put down his mother's home as his last address in Australia, where he allegedly lived until June 2010.
But the WikiLeaks founder has been living at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than six months ? eluding Swedish authorities, who have an outstanding arrest warrant for him in connection to a sexual assault investigation.
Assange spoke of his political ambitions in December, when he said he was interested in running for Senate, adding that "a number of very worthy people admired by the Australian public" had signaled they'd be willing to join him on a party ticket.
According to The Age, opinion polls conducted last year suggest Assange would be a competitive candidate.
A representative for the Australian Electoral Commission said the application for electoral enrollment is a private matter between the applicant and the commission, so he would not discuss individual cases.
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