Pirate Party fizzles in Swedish polls

By Liam Tung on Sep 21, 2010 6:08 AM
Filed under Oddware

Pirate issues on back burner.

The Pirate Party's leaders blamed the deferral of debates about copyright and digital freedom by Sweden's incumbent politicians for its dismal showing in yesterday's national poll.

Despite the Pirate Party's efforts to capture the hearts and minds of Swedes by pairing up with WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay, it only managed to secure 0.7 per cent of the nation's vote, according to an exit poll conducted by Sweden's national TV broadcaster, SVT.

In an election dominated by immigration issues, the Pirate Party's result was only marginally better than the 0.63 per cent it garnered in Sweden's 2006 poll.

Party leaders Rick Falk Vinge ad Anna Troberg said in a video blog that "everything that puts the light on our questions have been moved to immediately after the election: the Data Retention Directive... the Pirate Bay trial ... yes, even [the] signing of ACTA comes just days after the Parliamentary elections."

Sweden's anti-immigration focussed far-right party, the Swedish Democrats, took almost 5 per cent of the vote, ushering it in as a "king maker" in a country that faces a hung parliament.

Falk Vinge said the right's rise had left Sweden with leaders that were "hostile" to privacy rather than its previously "privacy friendly" leaders. He added that the far right's new power also made his party's role even more important.

Falk Vinge told daily newspaper Exrpessen that the Pirate Party's seven per cent result in the European elections ended its favour amongst larger parties, but their decision to keep it out resulted in another challenger - the far right.

However, he said the Pirate Party was still in an "activist position".

It now intended to establish a "think tank" to help flesh out its policies, and will prepare for the 2014 European elections.

2 comments in this discussion

"Sweden's anti-immigration focused far-right party, the Swedish Democrats, took almost 5 per cent of the vote. ******** Why would anyone want to migrate to that cold hole, a few hrs of daylight in ..."

By johnpro2

Tags

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Comments: 2

ITrant

Sep 21, 2010 6:24 PM

You know I never would have thought the old "yellow peril" (and let's face it, that argument is as old as humankind) argument would have worked in Sweden. Just goes to show, if you light the fires of fear the right way, people will do anything you tell them.

Glad to see enlightened voter disenchantment with outdated and corrupt duoplolies becoming the norm in elections around the world. You see "hung parliament", I see actual democracy in action. Once both sides of the duopoly stand for basically the same thing, and only the ingredients of the salad in the sh** sandwhich changes, people will eventually wake up, and stop ordering the same old… thing.

Only thing that bothers me is the ease with which an even more extreme right is able to dominate the issues. I know why. Things are not nearly as good as the general public is being told, and they know it. But turning to the very people who create these problems/fears for their own gains, for a solution beggars belief. Just goes to show how many people are still reading newspapers and watching television. Expect more threats to free communication on the internet to stem the tide of change.

Still, another decade of this and 'big money' won't have any way of buying its agenda over the general population's interest. And where would we be then? Watch out for those tighter controls over internet freedom to communicate… that's their last gasp.

johnpro2

Sep 21, 2010 10:25 PM

Sweden's anti-immigration focused far-right party, the Swedish Democrats, took almost 5 per cent of the vote.
********
Why would anyone want to migrate to that cold hole, a few hrs of daylight in winter ..Moscovites perhaps..?

Jp

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