Gerry Georgatos has withdrawn as the WikiLeaks candidate for the WA Senate. <\/p>\n
A Schapelle Corby conspiracy theorist has withdrawn his candidacy for the WikiLeaks Party at the West Australian Senate election. <\/p>\n
In a statement released on Monday morning, Gerry Georgatos said he had contacted the Australian Electoral Commission to remove himself from the nominations, citing ''unforseen personal reasons''. <\/p>\n
He said he would remain with the WikiLeaks Party and campaign in the lead-up to the Senate election. <\/p>\n
Mr Georgatos was WikiLeaks' WA candidate at the botched Senate election in September drawing just less than 10,000 or 0.75 per cent of the vote but he had announced he would step aside for Mr Assange, who he said would need just 3000 more primary votes to get elected. <\/p>\n
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Mr Georgatos was endorsed by the WikiLeaks national council on Tuesday night after the party was notified by the Australian Electoral Commission that Mr Assange was not eligible to contest in WA as he had not spent enough time in the state in past six years. <\/p>\n
Mr Assange remains in diplomatic asylum inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. <\/p>\n
Mr Georgatos, a university researcher and journalist, wrote a series of articles in January for independent news website, The Stringer, claiming Australian officials ''know without doubt'' that Schapelle Corby is innocent. <\/p>\n
The article went on to claim that she was used as a drug mule by corrupt officials and the Australian government considered brokering a ''tit-for-tat'' deal in which Indonesian children in Australian prisons would be ''swapped'' for Ms Corby. <\/p>\n
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