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First Elected Pirate Party Mayor to Rule Swiss Town

The Pirate Party movement reached a new milestone yesterday with the world’s first elected Pirate Mayor being voted into office in the Swiss town of Eichberg. With an overwhelming 63 percent of the total vote, Alex Arnold defeated two candidates from the political establishment. The 31-year old software programmer is eager to steer the small Swiss town towards a prosperous future.

Founded in 2006, the Pirate Party movement has scored a number of victories over the years.

The biggest success came in 2009 when the party gained two seats at the European Parliament. During the last year this was followed by dozens more seats in German state parliaments.

Yesterday there was another landmark victory for the Pirates, with the world’s first elected Pirate Mayor being voted into office in the Swiss town of Eichberg.

The 31-year old Pirate Party candidate Alex Arnold defeated two members of the Swiss Peoples Party (SVP), getting almost 63% of the vote in the small town on a 65% turnout. This is by far the best result for a Pirate anywhere in the world.

The election result is particularly impressive since the SVP is the largest party in Switzerland and currently holds 26% of the seats in the Swiss National Council.

result

The Swiss branch of the Pirate Party, which was founded little over three years ago, sees the election win as a clear sign that the party can make its mark in Swiss politics.

”This result is an important milestone for our young party. Winning a majority vote shows that our members are not part of a fringe phenomenon but are rooted in the midst of society,” Party President Thomas Bruderer said commenting on the news.

Rick Falkvinge, founder of the first Pirate Party in Sweden, sees the election win as something that transcends a local election in a town of 1500 people. It’s an inspiration to all the dozens of other Pirate parties scattered around the world.

“To paraphrase Armstrong, this is a victory in a small town in Switzerland and a giant milestone for a growing global political movement,” Falkvinge told TorrentFreak.

“I keep seeing interest grow in our perspective and our ideas. While being a pioneer sometimes means that you discover a dead-end and have to back out to try another way, there are also moments of sheer victory to be celebrated. This is one such moment.”

In his duty as mayor, Arnold will of course be inspired by the core principles of the Pirate Party.

The focus is not going to be on file-sharing, as downloading for personal use is already legal in Switzerland. But when it comes to government transparency and people’s privacy, he may be able to set a Pirate mark.

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  • meowmix

     a pirate mayor. what will come next?

    • nicksbrain

      arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

      • The Guy

        I’m curious to see how a pirate mayor rules the system.

        • Ole Juul

          Swiss municipal politics are presumably radically different from what we have where I live. In Canada the Mayor does not “rule” anything, unless you mean setting the agenda for council meetings is “ruling”. The mayoral position is similar to councillors, only the Mayor gets to set the agenda. The council rules and the agenda contains things like suggestions for sewerage upgrades, street lighting, and the like. I don’t see how pirate party principles can possibly be applied here. Nevertheless, I wish him great success.

        • Caleb

           Ole: If the city chooses to run a municipal ISP it can certainly be applied.  Even if not, check out the pirate wheel on Rick Falkvinge’s website, it details a well thought out and thorough political platform.

        • http://twitter.com/JohnEva74114655 JohnEvans

          …
          goo.gl/NZ81i

        • http://twitter.com/JohnEva74114655 JohnEvans

          Ryan answered I didnt even know that a single mom can profit $9202 in 4 weeks on the network. did you look this(Click on menu Home)

        • Rando

          I think he should focus on arrrrrrrrt projects

      • http://kimme.blogspot.com/ kimme

         You fight like an hamster and your mother smelled of elderberries…..

    • herpderp

      pirate jesus after that?

      • Guest

        Endless miracles of bread and fish. I’m not complaining.

        • krozar

          The baker and fishing guilds got Pilot to crucify him lol

      • Guest321

        Jesus was always a pirate, if he existed that is.

        • Janny

          So you know, even if you’re not Christian/Islamic Jesus historically DID exist as a human regardless of him being a prophet or the son of God.

        • Blasphemy

          Jesus did existed. They nailed him because he was illegally copied copyrighted fish and bread  with it’s 3D printer. Then he copied himself and this is how he resurrected. For the perfectly good water that he turned supposedly into gross Wine he shited this one. (This asshole should have give me the good water instead of throwing it away! He could have kept the wine because I hate it.)

          For the walking on water trick he used a computer animation software to make the video.

          That’s it, I told you everything about the Jesus miracles.

          (PS: Don’t ask questions about Mary  because this is way too embarrassing!)

          (PS2:Next episode: I will do Mohamed to make these ElQuada people Happy too. Then I will do Moise in the adventure of god I ) 

        • ScrewEwe2

          Jesus was an alcoholic. the guy spent half his time turning water into wine, getting wasted, and then bragging to chicks that he could walk on water. I can walk on water myself every damn time it rains, and I can turn whiskey, ice and 7-Up into a Whiskey-7 on the rocks. I can perform miracles with Tequila too.

    • http://torrentfreak.com/ Rob8urcakes

       That’s an easy one!!  Next is an outright majority win to for the 1st ever Pirate Party government :)

      But hey, this is how it starts and it’s sooooo damned cool too.

      All you guys in the US who always bemoan that nothing ever really changes and the 2-Party system is shit.  Well take your lead from the Swiss and vote with your heart.  You’ll soon see that things WILL change and in our favour too.

      Vote Pirate Party – whichever Country you’re in.

      • krozar

        Actually our Constitution limits us to 2 parties. Can’t easily change that. Article one defines every committe and position in 2 ways: majority and minority parties. A 3rd party is pointless.

        • kwame

          That’s FUD. Article I says nothing of the sort.

        • meowmix

          that’s easily rectifialbe, they’ve added bits and taken bits away at whim, i’m sure it’d not be to complicated to change it again.

        • Geordie Boy

          No it does’nt. If it did who the hell is Ron Paul and or Ralph Nader?

    • Flusher

      a CIA office opening at the adjacent council…

    • Pir Ates

      Kings, presidents and politicians in general are pirates by default. They take whatever they want and let the people walk the plank….

      • meowmix

        and lets not forget sweden, norway and denmark are built on piracy. sweden in particular has turned its back on its roots.

        • Dudeski

          The hell are you talking about?
          Norway wasn’t built on piracy in any sense of the word.
          (Neither was those other guys, but they did try taking over here sooo..)

    • ScrewEwe2

      A Parrot Chief of Police, or whatever they call that position in Switzerland. What, Chief of the Constabulary? And the parrot top cop say’s “squak squak, fuck the MAFIAA, fuck the MAFIAA”.

      And if they can’t find a qualified Parrot, maybe a Pig.

    • Scary Devil Monastery

      Obviously a pirate governor with a letter of marquee…oh, wait…

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  • krozar

    How much rum can he drink?

  • Guest

    What can he do? Set up a city-wide P2P network?

    • John Space

       Or turning the town into a neutral Internet zone so that hosting companies move there and the local economy booms.

      • krozar

        How often do you see towns legislating the Internet? That’s a federal-level issue.

        • PiratingthenBuyingIfWorthit

          Do we look like we care about goddamn law?

        • Caleb

           Not entirely, especially when it comes to grants/funding for new infrastructure.  Additionally, if he could get the funding and votes for it, they could choose to set up a city owned ISP, which could have their own privacy policies and competitive rates.  Many good things could be done at the local level, though, yes, creating a data haven or neutral zone would be basically impossible.

        • nom

           Legislate? Absolutely not. Setting up a town wide fiber network that allows ISP’s to compete? Definately.

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  • Greatkitsune

    I want a pirate party here Stateside…. Please? I hate our politicians lol

    • Anonymous

      You’ve got four years to convince a politician you can get him into office if he goes Pirate and plays the “Which party wants to write the rest of my platform?” game.

    • BJonesTF

      You’ve got a bunch, they’ve been around for 6 years. Problem is they’ve driven out most of hte competent to turn it into a PPCA cheering group

  • lattari

    I envy Switzerland in many aspects. Having psychos like North Korea’s Kim family study and vacation there is an acceptable price to pay for otherwise sane politics. They have true freedom of governance and diversity of legislation within an already small country.

    As for this guy, he probably brings a fresh face and style instead of the establishment’s old ways. Its really an insurance against possible favoritism and corruption, provided this guy is honest. Like the article said, file-sharers are already safe there.

    • BrN

      Agreed partly on your appreciation of Switzerland.
      On the other hand let’s not forget the country is historically a safe haven for dirty  money from around the world. Perhaps the Swiss pirates should wave the flag of transparency on that issue.

      • Janny

        I don’t want them to “wave the flag of transparency on that issue”, Switzerland has strong privacy laws, by adding transparency to banking then that takes away peoples privacy. Transparency in government is a good thing, but transparency in peoples personal business isn’t in my opinion.

  • Oelsen

    Well, he won partly because the others are such boneheads!

    • Bob

       This is exactly what I was thinking. It seems maybe this is more of a vote against someone else, than a vote for him. But maybe that’s just my tinfoil.

      • Guest

        Actually it’s not just a vote against someone else. He was nominated by a selection board of the other parties. The two other candidates came later as part of a “give people an option”-candidacy

        • TobiasBrox

          So basically he’s a minion in some coalition and has to walk on the tightrope for the entire election period?

          I hope Falkvinge is right about his experience from the EU parlament – that when people with IT skills, “pirate” mindset and good social skills can meet fellow influental politicans on a daily basis, that may in itself be enough to educate other politicans on “common sense pirate policies” and vaccine fellow politicans against ruthless lobbyists.

          I guess there is a lot of good things that can be done even in a small village and even when being in constant need of support from a coalition, i.e. making it easier for the public to access and comment on case documents, local budgets etc, pushing through better usage of educational IT in the kinder gardens and schools, reduce the communal license fees to Microsoft, etc.

    • Undermybridge

       Kind of like Obama then…

  • Anonymous

    well done that man! may he be the first of many to be elected. i hope this is the start of good things to come and time for the establishment to realise the people have had enough of the way countries are run for the benefit of a few and the detriment of the many, when it should be the other way round!

  • Anonymous

    Huh. Congrats!

  • Violated0

    I can only hope he opens a few free WIFI hotspots in town and encourages people to open up their own connections. Then right in the middle of town open a data storage hub where people can upload and share files.

    Then he can get down to the usual work of the Mayor.

  • LittleMiss1

      Hey, Look here Obama / Biden….Real politics!!

  • http://www.peoplesnote.org Don Reba

    1500 people and 5.5 km² is more of a small village than a town, though.

  • Time to Wise Up

    A Town! more like a village. No doubt the population felt like spicing up the notoriously staid boring Swiss village life by electing some half-assed fool.  If it was an election that really mattered then they would revert to type and vote the usual way.

    • krozar

      villages in the first world? this isn’t Africa.

    • Guest

      Or 62% of the voters were actuually concerned about the issues, you know, like the increasing loss of privacy and corporations encroaching on civil liberties.

      Of course no matter why they elected him, they’re going to benefit from having a mayor with his head in the 21st century.

  • David

    because we all know piracy creates jobs. Lol. 

    • ScrewEwe2

      The people and companies involved in the manufacturing and sales of blank CD and DVD media.
      The people and companies involved in the manufacturing and sales of paper CD/DVD Label stock and high quality paper products.
      The people and companies involved in the manufacturing and sales of computers and computer parts.
      The people and companies involved in the manufacturing and sales of internal and external Hard Drives and thumb drives.
      The people and companies involved in the manufacturing and sales of CD and DVD Burners.
      The people and companies involved in the manufacturing and sales of internet equipment such as modems and routers and all the services involved in supplying internet service and access, including all the people and companies involved in building and expanding the complete infrastructure of the internet be it wireless, DSL or Cable.
      The people and companies involved in the manufacturing, supply and sales of electricity to power everything. 
      The governmental agencies involved with collecting all the taxes for the goods and services listed above.
      The people and companies involved in the manufacturing, supply and sales of all the raw materials involved in the creation of the individual components for the goods and services listed above.
      The people and companies involved in the manufacturing and sales of the audio CD’s, DVD Movies or software purchaced after the pirate try before you buy ethos. 
      All the website Admins, coders, crackers and companies involved in creation and sales for advertising on so called Piracy websites.
      All the companies and lawyers involved in trying to stop piracy including cops and judges.

      Yes, Piracy does create a lot of jobs and I’m sure I left some examples out.

      Have to also add the people involved in the manufacture and sales of the marijuana I smoked before I posted this.  :-)
       

      • ScrewEwe2

        I would also like to give props to all the fine people here at TorrentFreak who hopefully make a decent enough living giving us news about, and a place to post comments about piracy. Without piracy we wouldn’t be here.

      • TobiasBrox

        Err … CDs and DVDs has been thoroughly obsoleted for more than a decade, and for some that’s a reason to do “piracy”. 

        Progress do make silly jobs obsoleted – that’s just a fact that has to be accepted.

        • ScrewEwe2

          “Err … CDs and DVDs has been thoroughly obsoleted for more than a decade, and for some that’s a reason to do “piracy”.”

          Do you live in a world where you only watch movies or listen to music on a PC? If I download some music and want to burn a CD so I can listen to it in a car or give to someone, that takes a blank CD and the original came from a CD. If I burn a copy of a DVD to play somewhere other than a PC it takes a blank DVD, and to the quality of DVD’s over BluRay, DVD’s are great on my 46 inch HDTV. All you guys that keep saying CD and DVD’s are obsolete are complete fucking tards.

  • Anon

    1500 people is an averaged size high rise apartment building. 
    Loved the bit about “piracy creates jobs.” lol

    • Guest

      Piracy demands an exponential amount of bandwidth, which helps necessitate the constant expansion and upgrading of not only ISPs but also national networking infrastructure in general.  

      Piracy creates jobs.

      [ ] Not told
      [X] TOLD

  • Blasphemy

    Oh Duce he won! The other one is his friend and the last one is mocking everyone! Not a good way to be popular!

  • Anon

     i love the sound of progress

  • Steph
  • zhuweng

     http://lnk.co/I2VI9

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  • 1hhh1

    Often go to Switzerland,they don’t really need a Pirate Party as it’s legal to download movies,music ect.

    • Guest

      the pirate party isn’t only about piracy, it’s even said in the article.

      People’s privacy and Govt transparency are great issues to tackle. I’d add Intellectual Property laws reform.

      3 weeks and i get to vote for them, i hope they win a mayorship in Belgium aswell! because we need it.

    • http://twitter.com/krozareq krozareq

      Even if it’s legal, it’s important to KEEP it legal. Drop your guard, even for a minute, and corrupt politicians will take advantage of it. 

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  • ingo

    Good luck to him. Politics at a local level can be a “dirty” game with planning permission and council contracts sometimes constituting an invisible form of corruption that individuals exploit to their financial benefit. Luckily the population is too small for this to be the case. At least the political experience he gains may be useful. I’m from the UK so my understanding of Switzerland is a bit lacking though we were taught in school that Switzerland’s neutrality during WW2 was in part due to them “feathering their own nest” though it also may have been a case of “do or die”. In the UK we consider their government during WW2 as active participants in the Nazi war machine especially in regards to having been the Nazi’s bankers though the Americans after the war did make them pay some of the money back. I suppose that was the past but its always something to bear in mind. Its a new world so lets hope Swiss neutrality finds a less complicit path in their dealings with the worst governments of the world. BTW the UK has a lot to answer for in its treatment of its “colonial subjects” and the Irish of the last century. I just thought I’d add that so as to paint a fair picture. Power corrupts so lets hope as Mayor this doesn’t happen to him and that he promotes the highest standards of his office.

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