Campaign for Obama to run in France gains momentum

Posters of Barack Obama have popped up around Paris in what started as a joke by four friends pretending to launch a campaign for the former U.S. leader ahead of France's presidential election.

Even though the former U.S. president cannot legally run in the two-round April-May election as a foreigner, the jokesters online petition has been signed by more than 40,000 people.

The organisers, who came up with idea over beer, say they launched the website and began plastering Obama17 posters around Paris because they were disenchanted with the candidates running in France's election.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)