The Pirate Party is now measured as the biggest political party in Iceland

19. mars 2015 10:49

The members of Parliament for the Pirate Party i Iceland. Jón Þór Ólafsson, Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson and Birgitta Jónsdóttir.

The Pirate Party now measures as the largest political party in Iceland, according to a new survey from the Icelandic market and research company MMR which regularly surveys the support for the political parties in Iceland.

Support for political parties and the government was surveyed in the period between the 13 ^th and 18 ^th of March. The results show that The Pirate Party has gained increased support.

See also: The Pirate Party is now measured as the second biggest party in Iceland

Now, support for The Pirate Party totals 23.9%, compared to their previous 12.8% in the last MMR survey a month ago. Further, support for the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn)—who measured largest last time — dropped to 23.4% from their previous 25.5%. Hence, the two parties differ by a mere 0.5 percentage points, which is not a substantial difference; but all the same, The Pirate Party, founded in 2012, shows the most support of all parties.

Support for The Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) is now measured 15.5%, compared to their previous 14.5%. Support for The Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) is now measured 11.0%, compared to their previous 15.0%.

Support for The Green Party (Vinstri Grænir) is now measured 10.8%, compared to their previous 12.9%. Support for Bright Future (Björt framtíð) is now measured 10.3%, compared to their previous 15.0%. Support for other parties measures below 2%.

Rejecting corruption and hubris

"To be completely honest: I don’t know why we enjoy so much trust, we are all just as surprised, thankful and take this as a sign of mistrust towards conventional politics,” says Birgitta Jonsdottir, the captain of the Pirate Party. In addition, she refers to surveys having shown that the people’s trust in politicians is below zero.

“Traditional politics have not shown progress and people are tired of waiting for change. It is good that people are rejecting corruption and hubris.

“We take this with humility. This must be a clear message to the government, especially to The Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) and their arbitrary governance.”

Last Friday Fréttablaðið published the results of their independent survey of the total votes if parliamentary elections were to take place now. In that survey the Pirate Party measured with about 22% of of the total votes. That made the Pirates the second largest political party in Iceland.

According to the MMR´s survey the Pirate Party and the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) would get 16 members of the Parliament each, The Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) 10, The Left Green Party (Vinstri grænir) 7, Bright Future (Björt framtíð) 7 and The Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) 7.

„I didn´t really expect this to happen within a decade of the first party founding. That's kind of cool. No actually, it's bloody awesome,“ says Rick Falkvinge, the political evangelist for the global pirate movement, in a comment on Reddit about the news of the Pirate Party in Iceland.

„My deepest congratulations to the PPIS for all the hard work you've put in to get to this point. I was at the party when you were first elected to Parliament on April 27, 2013, and wrote about it then; I hope to attend the next election victory party as well and write of your accomplishments again. Much love, and much inspiration received from your efforts, strides, and successes.“

Let's take that again: The Icelandic Pirate Party is now the _largest political party_ on Iceland. congrats! http://t.co/c60lmVLti6
— Rick Falkvinge (@Falkvinge) March 19, 2015