Aaaaarrrrr Maties... Parliament Ho!

[cthulu2016]

The cybertarian (is that a word?) German Pirate Party continues to exceed expectations, opposing intellectual property and favoring strengthening civil rights, transparent government, speedy and fair trial and freedom of speech; expansion of the right to anonymity in communication.

Bear in mind, however, that their success is not due to German voters being so different, but rather the German system being so different. The pirate party could probably get 5% in an American congressional election but would not get a seat in congress for doing so. Much of their support is presumed to be more generalized protest against the major parties than Pirate support, but who knows?

Voters in the North German state of Schleswig-Holstein have chosen a new parliament. The Pirate Party has won seats for the first time, while the embattled Free Democrats have fared better than expected.

After its success in Berlin and Saarland, the German Pirate Party - whose policies focus on freedom of information in the digital sphere - has managed to win seats in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. Following Sunday's election, the Pirates walked away with over 8 percent of the votes.

Receiving a similar number of votes was the pro-business Free Democratic Party, which has experienced a dramatic decline in popularity across Germany in the past two years, losing seats in several state parliaments. A jubilant Wolfgang Kubicki, head of the state FDP, pointed to his party's second-best result ever in Schleswig-Holstein:

"I am proud of my party, how it campaigned in really difficult conditions," Kubicki told German news agency dpa. "We hoped for a result of over seven percent. The fact that we got over eight percent is sensational."

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15933038,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party