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Iceland’s Pirate Party Poised to Join Government After Election Gains

HeadlineOct 31, 2016

In Iceland, the Pirate Party made big gains in Sunday’s national elections, raising the prospect it will form a coalition government with other left-wing parties. The Pirates won 10 seats in Iceland’s 63-member Parliament, up from three in the last election. Pirate Party leader Birgitta Jónsdóttir hailed the result.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir: “You know, our internal talk about what to expect has been, you know, we could maybe get somewhere between 12 to 15 (percent), and if we can get 15, we would have tripled our last elections. So we are just thrilled. It’s incredible.”

The Pirate Party hopes to pass the world’s first crowdsourced constitution. Its core platform calls for direct democracy, freedom of expression, civil rights, net neutrality and transparency. The Pirates saw their popularity surge in April, after Iceland’s prime minister resigned following revelations he and his wife used an offshore company to conceal millions of dollars’ worth of investments.

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