Pirate Party Books Moderate Success In German Elections
Written by Ben Jones on September 29, 2009The German Federal elections took place this Sunday and the Pirate Party, hoping to gain a seat or two, ramped up the pressure. Despite strong showings in the local council elections a week or two earlier, they failed to win a seat in the Parliament, getting only 2% of the vote, falling short of the required 5% minimum.
Going into the elections, the ‘Piratenpartei’ must have been on a high. In local elections two weeks ago members of the Pirate Party were elected onto the city councils of Munster and Aachen, and just one week ago, in youth elections, they scooped almost 10% of the youth vote.
Despite all this, 2% was the best they could achieve in the Federal elections, although in itself, that is still not an easy figure to achieve. However, it is short of the 5% barrier required to enter the German Parliament. It also means that the seat they gained from the defection of Jörg Tauss has been lost.
Yet positives remain. Like their Swedish brethren, the Pirate Party is now the largest outside of government, eclipsing many established ‘broad spectrum’ parties. It also qualifies for federal funding, which at 0.85 Euros per vote nets the party somewhere in the region of €720,000 (or $1,050,000 US) from their 845,904 votes, plus additional money to match 38% of contributions and membership fees.
Perhaps the biggest accomplishment is that the party has gained more votes in this election than the entire movement has before. It got a very strong showing with first-time voters, with Business Week reporting up to 13% of that group went Pirate. The party has also grown its membership tenfold in just a few months, to around 10,000. Not as fast as seen in Sweden, but still impressive.
Jens Seipenbusch, national party chairman, was upbeat about the results. “Our new style of politics touches the nerve of the people in Germany. We will continue to bank on participatory politics and to fight for civil rights online as well as offline.”
While it’s easy to focus on the negative, the positive is there as well. The party doubled its vote percentage in just a few months. With the funding, the rapid growth of members and the high profile the party has received in the media, it can only be a matter of time before the party gains more seats.
Previously: ISP Gives Customers The Power To Ban BitTorrent
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51 Responses
Epic fail :(
The sole existence of this pirate party is already a blessing in itself. It’s just a matter of time until it gains proper notoriety.
Things in Germany traditionally evolve a bit slower than, let’s say Scandinavia. This was the very first general election for the German pirates. When the German Green Party made its debut on the general Election, it could achieve 1,5%. 3 Years later, it more than tripled that. And 18 years later, it was part of the administration. I don’t see any reason, why the German Pirate Party shouldn’t do alike. And with 2%, they even started out better.
fix nothing more this Germany
This is not a failure. It’s a huge success. The first time the Swedish Pirate Party run for election it got 0.63% of the votes (in year 2006). Furthermore, although the good result in the EU election the Swedish Pirate Party does not currently have strong enough support (4% is required) to enter the national parliament. If you compare the 2% figure to that it’s very clear that the Pirate Party has a strong position in Germany.
Pirate Parties also enjoy the strongest support from young people, and with time people who weren’t before will become entitled to vote and the figures from previous elections will show that it’s not a lost vote. As you come closer and closer to the breakpoint of entering parliament the media attention will also increase and it’ll become a positive spiral.
Since most people have some difficulties with relative numbers,
you know, those weird figures with a ‘%’ at the end,
here are some absolute official numbers:
elegible voters: 62.132.442
voters showing up: 43.997.633
votes for the Pirate Party : 845.904
I don’t see how getting 845.904 people to vote for you in a general election is an epic fail.
In my book this is a strong appetizer for more to come.
well done
Well done! This is, in fact, a success, in the long run.
great start over there in germany, keep fighting the good fight
it should also be noted, that the participation rate was the worst ever, with around 70% (80-90% are usual for federal elections here).
so i dont think that the (less than hoped, but still not bad) result of the pirate party was a result of people not being interested in the pary, or not sympathizing with the ideas and political goals, but rather, that it wasnt known enough (there were only very few funds for offline campaigning, and some of the media companys deliberately ignored the PP in their reportings*).
so now they have 4 years and several times more funds to get their ideas out to the voters, and especially inform non voters, that there is a true alternative to the established parties, that has realised the need for a policy of embracing the new technological developments, rather than condeming and regulating them.
and as stated above: the 2% are more than the (german) green party (who the pirate party is offten compared to, due to their “on topic politics”), or the swedish pirate party got in their first elections!
btw, as far as i know the FDP (the “liberal” party that most likely will be in power as the partner of the CDU, the big conservative party) will forget all about their promises of freedom und civil rights once they are in office and go along with whaterver paranoid ideas the CDU might come up now (like their plan to reinstate a secret police**).
this could get even the last “i have nothing to hide” people to realise that everyone has something worth hiding, and it doesnt have to be illegal ;)
—
*) http://www.piratenpartei.de/Pressemitteilung/Stallorder_gegen_FREIE_W%C3%84HLER_und_PIRATEN_durch_auflagenst%C3%A4rksten_Zeitungsverlag_Schleswig-Holsteins (german)
**) http://www.heise.de/tp/blogs/8/145924 (german)
Congratulations PP Germany!
The cup is half full, not half empty!
And now with a million dollars backing you I’m sure things will really start moving!
Looking forward to hearing a lot more from you neighbors!
incredible! they lost the election, and nothing’s gonna change as ALWAYS, another useless party to prevent people from realizing that only when they evolve and become anarchists things will change
Humans are ‘group animals’ by design.
And then there is the occasional self centered individualist …
“I don’t see how getting 845.904 people to vote for you in a general election is an epic fail.”
Yeah, that’s seriously pretty amazing for the first time.
though great that they gathered 2% of the votes, pretty amazing!
Congrates!!Its a great start i think in Germany.Successin a long run for the Pirates.
even when we fail – we win.
The biggest problem with the internet pirates is that they also happen to have the laziest asses when its time to go outside and do something.
I am sure the German youth was too busy uploading, downloading, chatting on irc and forums on the day of the elections and were more than active on blogs and forums to show their support to the party for the election and when the D-Day arrived just failed to show up thinking the dude next door will at least show up and cast their vote !!!
Enough of venting frustrations on blogs and forums…could you guys please go out, spread the word and cast your vote when the next election takes place..wherever that is in EU !!!
I don’t see any reason why today’s youth would not want a political representative to question the bullying tactics , monopolization and bastardization of the Intellectual Property law which RIAA and MPAA has customized to their own benefit so meticulously and slowly turned it into a revenue stream by buying lawyers and suing students in thousands every year all over US.
So pirates – get your lazy ass out in the street, spread the word of Pirate Parties and cast your vote to reclaim your lost freedom and civil rights !!!
And breaking news at theLocal:
“Spotify ties make Pirate Bay judge bias: court”
thelocal.se/article.php?ID=22362
For a brand new party that’s an impressive percentage.
It’s just a matter of time, now…
In 4 years they get >5%.
Proportional representation in government is good for every system and a threshold of 5% for a seat within that government seems reasonable. But there is so much spin from both sides, truth is elusive. It’s helpful to take these referendums from time to time, for a clear snapshot of where we really are.
But at a time when Pirate momentum has arguably peaked, attracting a mere 2% of the vote in what was previously touted as a Pirate stronghold is the clearest statement on this issue so far.
The Pirate Party platform has only two or three planks, and all are related to online privacy and filesharing. They take no positions in any other global issues so the cause is clearly stated with nothing controversial to split the party. And still, only 2%.
So now at least we can set aside once and for all the illusion that any meaningful percentage of the population actually believes that everyone working in the digital industry must accept piracy as some new “norm” and find new lines of work to compensate. Even more obvious, Pirates now have to disregard truth to continue to believe the “majority” of the voters in Europe have support digital infringement and the online anarchy that conceals and facilitates it.
And most telling of all, only 13% of first time males, the absolute hardcore of the movement. Okay, then.
“You can’t stop us”? I’d say the voters already have.
“Pirate Party platform has only two or three planks”
Everyone starts small.
Give it some more months and we will have something solid to say about many, many more issues …
Always those negative waves from industry puppets.
This is a GREAT start for PP Germany. Much more than expected by most political observers. For the first time (actually starting since the elections of the European Parliament), German PP are getting press time coverage in mainstream media. This is VERY good.
Next elections there: state elections in Northrhine Westfalia in May 2010. If PP can reach 2%+ there, that would be proof that they are on the right path.
Why it didn’t reach the record-breaking Swedish levels yet should also be clear: in Germany, there was not yet such a blatantly biased court case like the corrupt Spectrial in Sweden against TPB, which would have pushed a lot more people to protest the grip of the entertainment lobby on their judicial system.
And the liberals (FDP) have successfully absorbed a lot of votes from people concerned about the erosion of the civil liberties — or at least their human rights wing did.
All in all, congrats to PP Deutschland. You’ve done a great job so far.
Quasimodo, I’m not an “industry puppet” and I’m certainly not a negative guy. I’m an independent thinker just like you are and I happen to be on the other side of the issue, that’s all.
And I just see 2% for what it is and what it means.
“Two percent.”
What did you expect for a nearly 1 year old party on its VERY FIRST general election and right amidst a economical crisis ?
I guess YOUR expectations were a little over the top in the first place.
If maybe in 10 yeays the PP is even remotely where the German Green Party is today after 30 years, it would be amazing.
But that is not really what it is all about, the point is to get the main PP theme into the political mainstream.
And that is already happening.
Quas, the “economic crisis” is often used as justification for taking something-for-sale without proper payment. As budgets rebound, that motivation eases.
And the PEW studies show that as voters mature and take jobs and join the marketplace, respect for industry and digital product increases, not decreases. That’s why YOUNG males are your stronghold.
I think it’s fair to say that musicians and writers and moviemakers and such are amongst the most liberal/radical thinkers in society, and that is the Pirate Party’s natural ideological base.
But the conflict with reality occurs when your own ideology forcibly strips out the rights of these digital workers, leaving them only bad choices. But even more damaging, you offer “find something else to do” as your solution, a disrespectful nonstarter to a professional creative if there ever was one.
Still, it’s good for Pirates to be heard. The more the public actually hears and understands, the more likely 2% will represent your rightful place in political history.
Well one thing about Germany is the people there are MAJOR cool!
Ripp
http://www.total-privacy.net.tc
Given that the PP in many places basically started out with 3-4 people sitting around a table pondering what to do about all of this just 1-2 years ago, getting 2% of the population educated is quite a feat.
Expecting a newfounded party to enter parliament without it being based on something like a worker class or similiar, is a bit much.
800k people is also roughly the amount of highly elite people, i.e. the university students, the educated, the upper crust of the society.
The dilemma of reaching the “average joe” who understands very little about the net and believes anyone who says the internet is where all children are raped(as opposed to reality, by real people, which needs real police and more police funding unlike now and not stop signs on the internet to stop them) so it will be a question of simply hammering the issues home more and more as the content mafia starts implementing more and more draconian measures.
While people think it’s just kids wanting to copy stuff and not having a clue about the PP it’s one thing to get 2%.
But once half of Germany is being put under surveillance, subpoenad for imaginary porn they never downloaded, throttled for 2 downloaded MP3s, called child molesting terrorist naziswinepig for opening their internet explorer, well, then things might just change a bit.
The sad part about this is that the now ruling censorship parties that will make China blush in comparison will have to do their evil bidding first in order for people to realize just how badly their freedom and rights are being raped day in, day out.
The more time passes though, the more old, stupid and uneducated people (RM and NS for example) die and are removed from the voting pool, and more young, tech savvy and internet connected folks grow up into voting eligability.
The old “if it’s online, it must be evil” dogma will perish, the whole “we must control every individual of our population” fanatism will start to diminish and eventually, hopefully, a more open-minded, liberal and pro-choice and pro-individual society with an open mind for progress and innovation emerge.
I sure do pray so, because if we stick to closing our minds, society and innovation potential down, then we’re just going to go down the drain and no two ways about it.
Educate yourself, educate others, fight for what you believe, vote.
And don’t stop posting, blogging, sharing, seeding, uploading, downloading, discussing, thinking freely.
And don’t stop believing I must be “stupid and uneducated” just because I disagree with you. That shallow thinking alone will keep you at 2% forever.
:-)
@Reasoned Mind
Will you please clarify whether you are male or female because you have used both terminologies in your posting .
Or maybe you’re a Hermaphrodite – yes of course why did I not think of this before!!!!!!!!
Some votes have not been counted:
http://forum.piratenpartei.de/viewtopic.php?f=130&t=12483
But it won’t change the 2%.
RM:
Give it a while. As has already been mentioned, the Green Party started with a smaller percentage of votes than we did. Although I do agree that we need to expand to issues such as immigration, tax, etc. to get anywhere. Anyone with half a brain can see that we won’t be making major waves in any Parliament anywhere for a good while yet, and anyone who thinks otherwise is naive.
And really, you can’t stop us.
@1 piss off..
this was the FIRST federal election the party has ever seen, everybody believing the 5% barrier could have been reached has to think again.
2% is really, a good sign, it showed all the big established partys that the pirate party is NOT just an internet joke gone real-life – before the elections lots of people didn’t even know the pirateparty – so this is perfect advertisment!
we have a lot of funding to expect, and with the rather very conservative “farmer’s party” CDU in power the people will come running for pirates in four years time..
About “just” 2%:
Truth is that the green party in their Germany wide election only garnered 1.5% on their first try / 1.2% in reunited Germany(check Wikipedia, their homepage or the official homepages if you don’t believe me).
Yet they went on to govern Germany.
What people paid by the industry (funny how they always seem to post during work hours) are trying to make you believe is that 2% isn’t a lot.
If the green party had believed a word of anyone spouting these kind of lies, they would not have been, would not have become who they are.
As it was, they had a true belief and a just cause, just like our pirate party has a true belief and a just cause.
Because of this, we will not ever succumb to the futile, never ending attempts by the propagandists of the opposition and stand strong and tall throughout whichever troubling times may be ahead.
We will continue to strive, fight and vote for our freedom, no matter how many try to take it or try to tell us that wanting to have freedom and rights is futile.
2% is great.
The argument that it means 98% of Germany disagrees with the Pirate Party is bunk. The argument that it means the majority of the Germans also don’t agree with the Pirate Party is also bunk.
You simply can’t tell what the majority of Germans think on Pirate Party issues based on the election results, because for most people the issues covered by the Pirate Party are not important, and so they won’t bother voting for them. Most would vote for parties that are talking about broader issues like employment, economic recovery, involvement in Afghanistan, etc., and will be in a position to influence policy on those matters.
So for a basically one- or two-issue party, which most people don’t prioritize highly, 2% on the first showing is quite good. Really damn good in fact.
That said, given that they are that focused issue-wise, I don’t actually think they will rise as far as the Green party. Not unless they start taking up positions on a whole lot more than select online issues. And if they did that it would probably water down the original purpose too much. The most important thing is that they are heard, and in peoples’ minds, so that their concerns can’t be summarily dismissed quite so easily (as the media corporations no doubt would love). That’s the whole point of democracy, even if you don’t get to call the shots.
After all, every vote that went to the Pirate Party is potentially one that didn’t go to a major party. That may one day convince one of the major parties to absorb some of the Pirate Party’s platform, to try to win some new young voters. And if the Pirate Party can influence national policy like this, that is pretty much a win for them.
Keep in mind one of the more important things for other parties like this is to influence the larger parties; they’ll want their share of that “only 2%” so they’ll please them.
June 6th 2009. EU parliament elections: 229,464 votes for German Pirates (0.9%).
September 27th. German parliament elections: 845,904 votes for German Pirates (2.0%).
Go figure.
RM:
You either really don’t have a clue what you’re talking about or you’re deliberately propagandizing against the PP.
Their 2% came within a CONTEXT, their cause was compared to some other, arguably bigger and more important things that the mainstream parties DO take up positions on. The problem is that the individual voter has only 1 vote, so they can’t give support to everyone they agree with, they have to choose whom they agree with THE MOST. That’s why there can never be overwhelming support for any single-issue party.
But you have a nation-wide referendum specifically about legalizing Internet sharing, with a Yes/No vote only, and you’ll see where the PP supporters are.
@27 Reasoned Mind
“Quas, the “economic crisis” is often used as justification for taking something-for-sale without proper payment. As budgets rebound, that motivation eases.”
I think what Quasimodo meant was that in and economic crisis, people are more worried about paying their bills, than voting for a party they know little to nothing about. I don’t recall him saying anything about downloading or file-sharing.
“And the PEW studies show that as voters mature and take jobs and join the marketplace, respect for industry and digital product increases, not decreases. That’s why YOUNG males are your stronghold.”
Really? I would think that older people would have more life experience and know more about it. What you seem to be saying, is that, young males are easier to indoctrinate and brainwash, and be more impressionable to follow the political views of the “industry”. You don’t think that older males who have jobs are also less likely to “take something-for-sale without proper payment”?
“I think it’s fair to say that musicians and writers and moviemakers and such are amongst the most liberal/radical thinkers in society, and that is the Pirate Party’s natural ideological base.”
Wait, what? So, if the pirate party has the same ideology as musicians, writers, and moviemakers, wouldn’t that mean that they are trying to get people disconnected, or at least throttle their bandwidth, and sue people without any real evidence of “taking something-for-sale without proper payment”? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that the complete opposite the pirate party stands for??
“But the conflict with reality occurs when your own ideology forcibly strips out the rights of these digital workers, leaving them only bad choices. But even more damaging, you offer “find something else to do” as your solution, a disrespectful nonstarter to a professional creative if there ever was one.”
That is exactly the same thing the industry is doing to file-sharers. Sounds like you believe in double-standards. It’s OK for the industry to do it to us, but we can’t do it to them? Are you f—ing kidding me?!
“Still, it’s good for Pirates to be heard. The more the public actually hears and understands, the more likely 2% will represent your rightful place in political history.”
Now I’m confused. The rest of your comment trashed pirates and your last paragraph you say this? Are you for pirates, or against them? You can’t have it both ways.
@40 (michael8214):
Now hold on, whoever said the majority of musicians have the same stance as Lily Allen?
And please don’t use the “common sense” argument, common sense is often wrong.
#12 it’ll take a while before the state is abolished so it’s of some value to engage in such half-measures.
@41
Nobody’s perfect. I do get a little mixed up sometimes.
If every torrent tracker puts up a thing that says “If you are old enough to vote, but have never done so before, go and put a vote in for the Pirate Party”, pirate party support would increase dramatically.
Here in Aachen the Pirates received 3,75% of the votes! Yay! :-)
@michael8124
Given this is a strongly pro-file sharing site, RM plays a useful (if frequently abused) role as Devil’s advocate.
Democracy is about views being heard, not that they are automatically taken seriously.
The mass media is likely to have an anti-file sharing bias, so having the PP funded will get a more open debate about what represents an acceptable balance between our individual privacy and rights, and a means of sustaining the music & film industry.
@22
Oh, STFU. (bitchslaps RM)
I have to correct one thing here some people got wrong: 5% is the minimum here in germany, but that’s not just one seat. If you really hit that 5% its more like 30-40 seats.
two other things to consider are that the PP couldnt be voted for in all states of Germany. They were noch listed in Saxony ( 6 largest population in germany ).
Also they managed to become 6 largest party even befor the npd (national democratic partie – the rightwing nsdap follow up)and other long running parties.
So the 2% are quit a great success.
@40 (michael8214):
Now hold on, whoever said the majority of musicians have the same stance as Lily Allen?
And please don’t use the “common sense” argument, common sense is often wrong.
@1 piss off..
this was the FIRST federal election the party has ever seen, everybody believing the 5% barrier could have been reached has to think again.
2% is really, a good sign, it showed all the big established partys that the pirate party is NOT just an internet joke gone real-life – before the elections lots of people didn’t even know the pirateparty – so this is perfect advertisment!
we have a lot of funding to expect, and with the rather very conservative “farmer’s party” CDU in power the people will come running for pirates in four years time..
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