Founded 24 November 2012 | Membership (2015) 1,443 | |
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Founder Birgitta JónsdóttirEva Lind ÞuríðardóttirHelgi Hrafn GunnarssonJón Þór ÓlafssonSmári McCarthyBjörn Þór JóhannessonJason Scott Katz Headquarters Fiskislóð 31, 101 Reykjavík Ideology Pirate politicsDirect democracy | ||
The Pirate Party (Icelandic: Píratar) is a political party in Iceland. The party's platform is based on pirate politics and direct democracy.
Contents
History
The party was cofounded on 24 November 2012 by Birgitta Jónsdóttir (previously a member of the Movement), and several prominent Internet activists, including Smári McCarthy. The party successfully applied for the ballot list letter Þ (resembling the party's logo) in order to run in the 2013. In July 2016 the party requested and was issued the letter P for future elections.
In their first electoral participation, at the 2013 parliamentary election, the Pirate Party won 5.1% of the votes, just above the 5% threshold required to win representation in the Althing. The three members elected, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson and Jón Þór Ólafsson, were the first pirates elected to any national legislature in the world.
Following the Charlie Hebdo shooting on 7 January 2015, the Pirate Party began a campaign to repeal Iceland's blasphemy laws. The laws, which had been introduced in 1940, were successfully repealed in early July 2015. The repeal, introduced by the Pirate Party, read: "Freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of democracy. It is fundamental to a free society that people should be able to express themselves without fear of punishment, whether from the authorities or from other people." During the vote on the repeal, the three Pirate Party members of the Althing stood and declared "Je suis Charlie", in solidarity with the French satirical magazine.
For around a year from April 2015 to April 2016, the party consistently topped polling for the next Icelandic parliamentary election in 2016, with support roughly equal to the Independence Party and the Progressive Party combined, who are currently partners in a coalition government.
An MMR opinion poll published in January 2016 put their public support at 37.8%, significantly above that of all other Icelandic political parties.
In April 2016 public protests about the Prime Minister's role in the Panama Papers brought out a significant percentage of the whole population, and may have been among "the largest demonstrations of any kind, in any country, ever (proportionately speaking)". In the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, polls in April 2016 showed the Pirate Party at 43% and the Independence Party at 21.6%.
A poll by the Social Science Research Institute of the University of Iceland with data from 14–19 October 2016 put the Pirate Party in first place in the general election on the 29th of October 2016 with 22.6% of the vote.
In the October 29, 2016 elections, the Pirate Party won 10 seats with 14,5% of the votes in Parliament, up from 3 seats.
European Union
The party has not officially taken a position in favour of or against Iceland's accession to the European Union. The party has however concluded the following in a party policy on the European Union:
Edward Snowden
On 4 July 2013, a bill was introduced in parliament that would, if passed, immediately grant Edward Snowden Icelandic citizenship. The proposer of the bill was Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson (Pirate Party) and it was co-sponsored by the other Pirate Party parliament members, Ögmundur Jónasson (Left-Green Movement), Páll Valur Björnsson (Bright Future) and Helgi Hjörvar (Social Democratic Alliance). A vote was taken to determine whether the bill would be put on parliament's agenda but it did not receive enough support.
Reykjavik City
The elected representative is Halldór Auðar Svansson.