The Mary Sue

Pirate Party Pillages Its Way Into German Government After Election Win

The Pirate Party, a political party in Sweden in 2006 with the goal of reforming laws regarding copyrights and patents, officially entered state parliament for the first time. Yesterday, the German branch of the Pirate Party exceeded the necessary 5 percent floor vote to enter Berlin parliament with multiple seats, receiving an estimated 9 percent of the total vote.

A couple of hours after the polls closed, the Pirate Party secured 15 seats in Berlin parliament, having a small representation in the 620-member parliament. Before actually snagging the 15 seats, the Pirate Party had over 50 members in elected offices across Germany, which happened to be more members in elected offices than in all other countries combined.

As one could probably guess, the Pirate Party received most of their support from younger voters, with 15 percent of people under the age of 30 having voted for them, although a small percentage of people age 60 and up voted for them as well.

Sebastian Nerz, president of the German Pirate Party, discusses what the election means for the future of the Pirate Party:

“At the moment the Pirate Party of Germany does not have any paid employees.

Everyone working for the party – including myself – is working in an honorary capacity. In contrast, Members of Parliament are paid for their work. In addition they receive state money to pay for assistents and co-workers. This will enable those Pirates to work full-time for the party, thus giving us much more work force.”

Nerz says that the Pirate Party aims to demonstrate that “politics can be reformed,” and now being represented by official members of parliament, it seems like they have a pretty good place to start. Below is a picture of the Pirate Party celebrating their win, shared by Rick Falkvinge, founder of the Swedish Pirate Party.

Not a uTorrent in sight.

(via TorrentFreak)

Dan Abrams, Founder

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