The French are set to elect a new president in April.

But those who are unhappy with the current candidates are making a last ditch attempt to recruit another contender - Barack Obama.

The Obama17 petition is currently circulating with the aim of gathering 1 million signatures to convince the former U.S. president to run for office in France.

About 500 posters of Obama's face have been plastered across Paris in recent days, urging people to visit the petition website.

An Obama17 petition is circulation and posters have been plastered across Paris in a bid to convince Barack Obama to enter the race for French president

The slogan reads: 'Oui on peut', which is French for 'Yes we can.'

The website says the former commander-in-chief 'has the best resume in the world for the job'.

'We wish to strike a blow by electing a foreign president at the head of our beautiful country,' the website reads.

'Barack Obama has completed his second term as president of the United States... why not hire him as president for France?'

The petition website says the former commander-in-chief 'has the best resume in the world for the job'

About 500 posters of Obama's face have been plastered across Paris in recent days, urging people to visit the petition website

It should be pointed out that Obama would have to learn French and become a citizen before he could even be in the running to be France's president.

The creators of the petition, who wanted to remain anonymous, told NPR it was a joke but it was started out of frustration about politicians in France in general.

'We were thinking about French politics and saying that we were fed up with the fact that we all the time had to vote against someone and how it would be cool to be able to vote for someone we admire. We came up with Obama,' one creator said.

'It's definitely a joke. But it could make people think a little bit about what we could do differently in French politics... the idea was to make people wake up.'

Obama, pictured here with French president Francois Hollande in 2014, could not lead France without first becoming a citizen