In efficient, socialist, and thoroughly entertaining Sweden, a political party based on copyright activism has a legitimate shot at a seat in the European Parliament. Remember: A vote for them is a vote for piracy.
The Pirate Party, staffed entirely by volunteers, may have only gotten about 35,000 votes (0.63%) in Sweden’s 2006 elections, but with the current uproar over the Swedish goverment’s restrictive laws and the media sensation of our torrenting buddies the Pirate Bay, registration has swelled. With 12,000 contributing members, the Pirate Party is now larger than both the Swedish Green Party and the Swedish Left Party, and they’re staking the future of their organisation on a run for a seat in the European Union Parliament this June.
The Pirate Party doesn’t have a lock on a seat; they’ll need about 100,000 votes, which would require a huge jump from their previous total. But given the atmosphere, they’ve certainly got a shot at it. Check out their website for more information on their aims, which include not only copyright law but Internet privacy as well. [Wired]
Markus Stoor
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 5:03 AMBy now the Pirate Party has more members than it had voters 2006, and it´s the fourth largest party in Sweden. This is due to a huge surge of new members, following the verdict in the case against the pirate bay.
The total number of members is now over 35700, still rising by about 100/hour. The rise since the verdict is about 150 % in five days.