LONDON -- Dressed as an 1980s rocker and donning a fake mullet, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has made a bizarre bid for votes by starring in a YouTube music video.
The spoof ends with Assange singing rocker John Farnham’s 1986 hit “You’re the Voice."
It compares next week's Australian federal election to the medieval-themed TV show "Game of Thrones.
Produced by Australian duo Juice Rap News, the video’s co-host refers to Assange's bid for the Australian Senate, where he hopes to represent his WikiLeaks Party on a platform of transparency of information and protection of human rights.
The camera cuts to the Ecuador's Embassy in London, where Assange has been staying since June 2012 to avoid deportation to Sweden to be questioned over alleged sex crimes.
The video suggests that the fugitive “needs a makeover” to appeal to “all the Sheilas and blokes back home in Oz.”
The clip then skips to show Assange dressed in an Australia sports top with a tie around his head decorated with the national flag.
He throws out stereotypical Aussie phrases such as “Good on ya,” before singing a parody of anthem "You're the Voice," which is one of the country's best-known songs.
Assange is filmed from side-on in black and white as he croons while wearing a long blonde wig, while in the background there are clips from videos released in the past by WikiLeaks.
The lyrics include: “We've got to make things leak, so we can get much bolder - oh, we're all wire-tapped now, we're all being fed lies.”
When he reaches the chorus he sings: “You're the light that the world's demanding,” before spinning around and appearing in a line with multiple versions of himself.
Polls show Assange's party is unlikely to attract the 17 percent of the vote needed to win a Senate seat -- including "preference" ballots from other parties under Australia's complex proportional voting system.
The video also uses comic rap lyrics to send up current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
His predecessor Julia Gillard, who Rudd ousted as Labour Party leader in a June party vote, is also parodied and described as a “witch” who should do some ironing. Its hosts also make a crude remark about her breasts.
Tony Abbott, the leader of the opposition Liberal Party of Australia, is later depicted. He is shown crouched wearing a tight-fitting swimsuit on a beach towel, drooling from the mouth and promising to ban abortion and gays, “even my sister”.
Reuters contributed to this report.