Swedish Pirate Party Headed For European Parliament
By Morelli
The European Parliament elections were held yesterday, June 7, and the Swedish Pirate Party, with 7 percent of the vote, is guaranteed at least one seat in EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. The Pirate Party is the largest party in the 18-30 age range of voters, and is the fifth largest party in Sweden.
The Pirate Party has the potential to gain yet another seat when the final counting, which will include around a million postal votes, will be done later next week. The Party aims to reform copyright and patent law, and also defends Internet privacy and the freedom of sharing information.
“It’s a fabulous political recognition,” 37-year-old founder Rick Falkvinge told AFP. “And it hasn’t come from the ‘establishment’, the mainstream voters. It has come from the ground, the citizens, and it feels great. The old politicians don’t understand, they see these issues as an isolated problem – they function far from the keyboard, and are not (digitally) connected.”
Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge celebrating the election win
With a total of 736 legislators in the European Parliament (see the provisional results), one delegate won’t be setting the agenda, but the Pirate Party wants to expand to be a worldwide movement. They have sister parties in 20 countries, and achieved 0.9 of the vote in Germany, enough to secure state funding of their campaign.
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