June 29, 2007 [LINK / comment]
As rumored last week, Alberto Fujimori, former president of Peru, announced that he will run for a seat in the senate of Japan, a ploy by which he hopes to avoid being extradited to Peru. He is currently under house arrest in Chile, and the case is such a hot potato that it is doubtful that any judge will make a definitive ruling on the extradition request any time soon. This is a truly bizarre situation, and apparently there are no legal impediments to such a candidacy under Japanese law, since Fujimori holds dual Peruvian-Japanese citizenship. For details, see CNN.com. It would be interesting to find out how many people have served as elected government officials in more than one country. Golda Meir, the former Milwaukee schoolteacher who became prime minister of Israel in the 1960s, might be one example.