Things could be about to get very interesting at the European Parliament. The Swedish news site The Local is reporting that the country’s Pirate Party is on course to win two seats in the European Parliament when results from this week’s elections start to come through this evening.
The party, that has copyright law reform at the top of its agenda, has seen a huge increase in support since The Pirate Bay’s guilty verdict in April. While success for the party wouldn’t mean file sharing would be suddenly legalised, it would mean that pirates would have a legitimate political voice in the European Parliament for the first time.
The Party’s growth shows just how unhappy many people are with the bullying practices of the entertainment industry. Whether or not you agree with increased rights for pirates, the Pirate Party has done something that most politicians fail to do; make young people take notice of politics by dealing with issues they’re interested in.
Meanwhile in the UK, a just as unusual party is eyeing success in tonight’s poll results. Jury Team is a party with no policies of its own. It’s made up of independent candidates who were selected via an online poll. Candidates are encouraged to campaign via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and a personal blog.
How successful can a bunch of pirates and party with no policies be? We’ll find out tonight.
UPDATE: As it turned out, The Pirate Party won just one seat. Still, who would have thought that would happen when they formed three years ago?
