WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has hinted he may run for UK Parliament. Credit:AP Asked by Fairfax whether it was just a throwaway Twitter line, Assange confirmed he was genuinely discussing the idea. "(I'm) seriously considering how much fun it might be to slap the powder off their stuck-up, class-bound noses," he said. British MPs are not obliged to attend parliament in person. However if elected, Assange would be unable to cast a vote unless he could somehow make it to Westminster without being arrested.

Assange is holed up in London's Ecuadorian embassy, where he sought asylum in June 2012 shortly after losing a legal fight against an arrest warrant over rape allegations in Sweden. Assange told Fairfax it was wrong to assume he sought asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden to face the rape allegations. He said he was granted asylum and refugee status in relation to a US prosecution over his work with WikiLeaks. "I did not seek to avoid extradition (to) Sweden, I sought to avoid extradition to the US from UK or Sweden," he said. By seeking asylum he breached one of his bail conditions and is subject to arrest under the UK's Bail Act, British police have said. The fine print of the UK's electoral laws does not immediately disqualify Assange from standing for election, despite his current life in legal limbo.

As a citizen of a Commonwealth country – Australia – Assange is eligible. He would have to pay a £500 ($850) deposit, refundable if he wins 5 per cent of the vote, and get the signatures of 10 people in his electorate. The UK's 1981 Representation of the People Act disqualifies anyone from being a member of the House of Commons if they are ordered to be imprisoned or detained for more than a year after being found guilty of an offence (in any country) – or if they are "unlawfully at large" when they would otherwise be so detained. Last year a United Nations panel ruled Assange was in "arbitrary detention" against international law – a decision that the British and Swedish governments rejected. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said its decision was "legally-binding to the extent that (it is) based on binding international human rights law" - however it is not automatically enforceable in either the UK or Sweden.

Assange has not been convicted of any offence, though there is an outstanding European arrest warrant against him. A Swedish court has ordered his detention in absentia, judging he was suspected on probable cause of rape, and there was a continuing risk he would flee or evade a trial. Prosecutors last year interviewed Assange at the embassy, and are now considering his answers before deciding whether to push forward with their case. According to Fair Trials International, Swedish law requires Assange to be physically present on Swedish territory before charges can be laid. However, chapter 45 of Sweden's judicial code sets out how a trial might take place without Assange if "after service of the summons upon the defendant, he has fled or remains in hiding in such a manner that he cannot be brought to the main hearing" and if "the matter can be satisfactorily investigated".