Sydney (dpa) – Wikileaks founder Julian Assange plans to run for a seat in the Australian Senate, the organization announced Saturday, despite his legal battle to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faces sexual assault allegations. “We have discovered that it is possible for Julian Assange to run for the Australian Senate while detained. Julian has decided to run,” Wikileaks announced on Twitter. Assange, an Australian citizen, was arrested in London in December 2010 and has since been living in Britain under strict bail conditions. He is wanted in Sweden over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women in 2010. The announcement elicited no immediate response from the Australian government. WikiLeaks said there were no legal impediments to Assange serving in the Senate, or upper house of parliament. Wikileaks also said it would be running a candidate against Prime Minister Julia Gillard in her House of Representatives constituency of Laylor at a parliamentary election due next year. “The name of the Laylor candidate and the state Julian will run for will be announced at the appropriate time,” WikiLeaks said. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/vdXsM Tags: Assange, Australia, Politics, Senate, Wikileaks Section: Latest News, Oceana