--- description: The Obama 2017 campaign, launched earlier this week, is attempting to persuade former President Barack Obama to stand in France's election. title: Petition Calls for Barack Obama to Run as French President image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt217fd0439e18c71d/6988bbc02dce01808e9ec66e/gettyimages-644465814.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Obama 2017: Petition Calls for Barack Obama to Run as French President ## Video: Two Frontrunners Emerge in First Round of French Presidential Vote [Watch (HLS stream): Two Frontrunners Emerge in First Round of French Presidential Vote](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1jSAkHVd.m3u8) (2:14)  _Published 2017-02-10. Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right populist Marine Le Pen advanced Sunday to a runoff in France's presidential election, remaking the country's political system and setting up a showdown over its participation in the European Union._ by [Kate Samuelson](/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 24, 2017 2:09 PM CUT  Obama 17 posters are seen displayed on Feb. 23, 2017 in Paris, France. Obama 17 posters are seen displayed on Feb. 23, 2017 in Paris, France.Aurelien Meunier—Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 24, 2017 2:09 PM CUT If the upcoming [French election](http://time.com/4666894/france-election-candidates-president/ "undefined") wasn’t tense enough, a [petition](http://obama2017.fr/ "undefined") is calling to add yet [another candidate](http://time.com/4660732/france-elections-marine-le-pen/ "undefined") into the mix: [former U.S. President Barack Obama](http://time.com/4674300/cspan-presidents-rank-2017/ "undefined"). The Obama 17 campaign, which was launched earlier this week, is attempting to collect 1 million signatures by March 15 in order to persuade Obama to stand in the May election. “Barack Obama has the best resume in the world for the job,” the site explains. “Because at a time when France is about to vote massively for the extreme right, we can still give a lesson of democracy to the planet by electing a French President, a foreigner.” According to [NBC](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/23/516877566/a-citizens-petition-calls-for-a-new-french-president-barack-obama "undefined"), posters calling for Obama 2017 have been plastered around Paris and the petition has received about 27,000 signatures so far. One of the site’s founders told NBC that he thought up the idea for the campaign with four friends “after a drink.” This diverse array of contenders in the French election is likely to be winnowed down to a head-to-head race by the country’s two-round voting system. Unless one candidate wins a (highly unlikely) majority in the first round, the two candidates who receive the most votes in round one (April 23) will face off in a second round (May 7). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4681651/barack-obama-french-election-campaign/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4681651/barack-obama-french-election-campaign/"},"headline":"Obama 2017: Petition Calls for Barack Obama to Run as French President","datePublished":"2017-02-24T14:09:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:45:18.199Z","description":"\"Barack Obama has the best resume in the world for the job\"","url":"https://time.com/4681651/barack-obama-french-election-campaign/","keywords":["Barack Obama","France","Obama","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt217fd0439e18c71d/6988bbc02dce01808e9ec66e/gettyimages-644465814.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt217fd0439e18c71d/6988bbc02dce01808e9ec66e/gettyimages-644465814.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Obama17\" Posters Are Displayed Across Paris","caption":"\"Obama17\" Posters Are Displayed Across Paris","creditText":"Aurelien Meunier—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4681651/barack-obama-french-election-campaign/","name":"Obama 2017: Petition Calls for Barack Obama to Run as French President"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Two Frontrunners Emerge in First Round of French Presidential Vote","description":"Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right populist Marine Le Pen advanced Sunday to a runoff in France's presidential election, remaking the country's political system and setting up a showdown over its participation in the European Union.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1jSAkHVd/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-02-10T19:56:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1jSAkHVd.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4681651/barack-obama-french-election-campaign/","duration":"PT2M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4681651/barack-obama-french-election-campaign/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```