seems to work... In Spanish we also have this meaning:
2a TS dir.can., chiedere di essere ammesso in un ordine religioso | promuovere una causa di beatificazione o di canonizzazione
but figuratively it can be used outside the religious context. Blair se postula como Presidente would be perfectly admissible, which is why I asked. We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
In light of the Guardian article yesterday that is what Blair is doing, "to ask with insistence to be given the job (on the condition that he gets more powers to do it, of course), etc."