Amid a presidential campaign that has been marred by scandal, conspiracy theories, and the spectre of a new far-right leader, disillusioned French voters have called for an outsider to join the race: Barack Obama.

A petition launched on Monday calls on the former US president to run in this year’s French elections, which will be held in April and May. Called Obama17, the petition aims to garner 1 million signatures by March 2015, and as of Friday morning, it had already gained 30,000, according to one of the people behind the effort. But even the people who launched the website acknowledge that the chances of Obama actually ascending to the Elysée Palace are virtually zero. French law requires presidential candidates to be French, which…

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