Julian Assange has labelled the projected Senate results as “bizarre” after his fledgling Wikileaks Party polled poorly at the federal election.
The party founder, who stood on the Victorian Senate ticket, has vowed to make another future bid in the upper house after winning just 0.62 per cent of the vote, with about two-thirds of Senate first preferences counted.
The party’s best showing was in Victoria where he garnered 25,667 votes, which represented 1.19 per cent overall.
In NSW it picked up 0.8 per cent and in Western Australia 0.71 per cent.
Assange told the ABC it was the second largest vote count for the new parties after Clive Palmer’s Palmer United party, which had a “billion bucks” behind it.
But he said it was "rather bizarre" that the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party was being projected to win a Victorian Senate spot when it "has less than a third of the vote that we had".
“I think that’s a pretty good outcome,” he said. “[Wikileaks] had a leader and primary candidate stuck in an overseas embassy for 400 days in a foreign country, nine hours time difference and an international banking blockade against it, which interfered with donations."
Asked if he would make another bid for the Senate, he said. “I think so.”
"The WikiLeaks Party will continue for sure," he said. “"It's now back to the real work, to publish," he said.
Assange will now focus his efforts on his Wikileaks website from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
