'Australia's Sarah Palin' and One Nation Candidate Aborts Election Bid Due to Pressure Over Viral Video

Stephanie Banister, dubbed as the "Sarah Palin of Australia", has dropped out of the election race on August 10 after committing several interview blunders and calling Islam a country.

The 27-year-old One Nation candidate was campaigning for only two days when she gave an interview to Seven News Network. Her interview video went viral on the Internet and viewers tagged her as "Australia's Sarah Palin" who was also mocked for her interview mistakes when she contested for US vice-presidential position in 2008.

Ms. Banister said in the interview that she doesn't oppose to "Islam as a country" but she felt their laws should not be allowed in Australia. In an apparent lack of expert knowledge on the subject, the aspiring female politicians went on to say that only 2 per cent of Australians follow the "haram" which she actually mistook for the "Quran" or "Koran", the Islam equivalent of the Christian Bible.

Ms. Banister made matters worse by saying she supported kosher food for the Jews. She said Jews are not following "haram" since they have their own religion - following Jesus Christ. Jews do not actually follow Jesus Christ's teachings since Judaism views Jesus as an ordinary man.

Ms. Banister withdrew her candidacy for the September 7 elections. One Nation party leader Jim Savage denied reports that Ms. Banister was dropped from the ticket and said she still had the "full support of the One Nation executive".

Mr. Savage said Ms. Banister's resignation from the party was due to the threats allegedly made against her family and children including the pressure and embarrassment from the online abuse she experienced because of the viral video.

One Nation has accepted her candidacy withdrawal "with regret". Stephanie Banister faced the media briefly to confirm that she has dropped out of the election race. Ms. Banister previously insisted that she had corrected herself during the interview and it was edited to "make her look quite a fool".

Australia's Sarah Palin apologised to her party mates, family and friends for any embarrassment the video has brought them.

The One Nation party was established in 1997 by Hanson who infamously warned that Asians were filling up Australia. Stephanie Banister has already made several attempts to return as an aspiring politician after losing her federal post in 1998.

Ms. Banister also lost her bid for a seat in the National Senate in 2007 in which she also fought to put a stop to Muslim immigration in order to protect "Australian culture".

See the video of Stephanie Banister calling Islam a country here.