Pirates can hijack victory in Icelandic elections

Leader of the Pirate Party of Iceland Birgitta Jonsdottir, poses for a picture at the party's office in the Icelandic Parliament in Reykjavik.Photo REUTERS/Gwladys Fouche/File Photo

The Icelandic Pirate Party is poised to make history as the first “Pirates” to win a national election.

In the latest poll, the party is leading with 22.6 percent of the vote. That means more than one in five Icelanders will tick the Pirate Party box in the coming election on Saturday, 29 October.

But the current ruling party, the Independence Party, is breathing down the “Pirate” neck with 21.1 per cent in the polls. The Liberal Movement – Greens – might also do well , polling 18.6 percent of the vote.

The poll was conducted between the 14th and 19th October. In all, 2,300 voters were asked which party they would vote for.

Astounded

The Pirate Party made history already in 2013 when they received just over 5 percent of the vote, giving them three representatives in the National Assembly – the only country in the world to do so.

Party members are a motley collection of anarchists, hackers, freedom supporters and net nerds. Policy was adopted through internet polls, a method Pirates believe government should adopt, writes the Washington Post.

The party defines itself neither as part of the right, nor left, but as a radical movement that combines the best of both sides, according to the Post.

The tremendous progress in the polls also amazes the poet, computer programmer and former WikiLeaks activist, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, who founded the Pirate Party in 2013.

‘No way’, she answers, when asked if she had seen for herself that the party would end up in government so quickly.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today