Pirate Party (Sweden)

Pirate Party
Piratpartiet
LeaderKatarina Stensson
Secretary-GeneralMattias Rubenson
FounderRick Falkvinge
Founded1 January 2006 (2006-01-01)
Headquarterspiratpartiet.se
Youth wingYoung Pirate
Membership (15 March 2020)1884 [1]
IdeologyPirate politics
E-democracy
Freedom of information
Green liberalism
Political positionSyncretic
European affiliationEuropean Pirate Party
European Parliament groupThe Greens–European Free Alliance
International affiliationPirate Parties International
Colours  Purple
Parliament:
0 / 349
European Parliament:
0 / 21
County councils
0 / 1,696
Municipal councils
0 / 12,700
Website
piratpartiet.se
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The Pirate Party (Swedish: Piratpartiet) is a political party in Sweden founded in 2006. Its sudden popularity has given rise to parties with the same name and similar goals across Europe and worldwide, forming the International Pirate Party movement.

The Pirate Party was initially formed to reform laws regarding copyright and patents. The party agenda includes support for strengthening the individual's right to privacy, both on the Internet and in everyday life, and the transparency of state administration.[2] The Pirate Party has intentionally chosen to be bloc independent of the traditional left-right scale[3] to pursue their political agenda with all mainstream parties. The party originally stayed neutral on other matters, but started broadening into other political areas in 2012.[4][5]

The Pirate Party participated in the 2006 Riksdag elections and gained 0.63% of the votes, making them the third largest party outside parliament. In terms of membership, it passed the Green Party in December 2008, the Left Party in February 2009, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats in April 2009,[6][7] and the Centre Party in May 2009, making it, for the time being, the third largest political party in Sweden by membership.[8] The Pirate Party's associated youth organisation, Young Pirate (Swedish: Ung Pirat), was, for a part of 2009 and 2010, the largest political youth organisation in Sweden by membership count.

The Pirate Party came fifth in the 2009 European Parliament elections with 7.13% of the vote and one MEP (increasing to two after ratification of the Lisbon Treaty).[9][10] Christian Engström became the first MEP for the party, and Amelia Andersdotter took the second seat on 1 December 2009.

Rick Falkvinge, founder of the party, stepped down on 1 January 2011 after five years as party leader, making vice leader Anna Troberg the party leader.[11]

On 1 December 2014, Anna Troberg announced that she would not be available for re-election in 2015 after her term ended on 31 December 2014.[12]

  1. ^ "MEMBER COUNT HISTORY". Piratpartiet SE. 15 March 2020. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  2. ^ — Ledarredaktionen, Dagens Nyheter. "The Pirate Party | Piratpartiet". Piratpartiet.se. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Vågmästarställning" from piratpartiet.se, accessed on August 28, 2006
  4. ^ "Nu breddas Piratpartiet!". piratpartiet.se. Piratpartiet. 2 April 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  5. ^ "Sakpolitik". piratpartiet.se. Piratpartiet. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012.
  6. ^ Result of Verdict, for the Pirate Party Archived 2009-04-20 at the Wayback Machine. Blog Pirate. April 17, 2009.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference membership was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Comparisons of membership numbers may not be considered fair by some, as the Pirate Party does not charge a membership fee, which is commonplace for other parties
  9. ^ "Röster - Val 2009". Val.se. Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  10. ^ Stockholm TT (4 June 2009). "Piraterna in i EU-parlamentet | Inrikes | SvD". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Svd.se. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference falkvinge.net was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Ajöss och tack för fisken" (in Swedish). Anna Troberg. 1 December 2014. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.