The Internet entrepreneur could not run for election himself, but as the party’s president and visionary he would gain significant political power.

Today New Zealanders went out to vote and the Internet Party was listed on the ballots in an alliance with the Mana Party.

Voting booths officially closed at 7 PM local time and the provisional results show that Internet Mana failed to win a seat.

The party managed 1.26% of the total vote, somewhat short of the 5% required to enter the New Zealand Parliament. A disappointing result after Dotcom spent more than $2 million on the party and its election campaign.

Over the past several weeks Internet Mana received a lot of attention in the press. Dotcom actively campaigned against his arch-rival Prime Minister John Key, and earlier this week the party organized the “Moment of Truth” during which Edward Snowden, Glen Greenwald and Julian Assange all criticized New Zealand’s secret spying efforts.

Despite the heavy critique of the Prime Minister, Key’s National Party became the overwhelming winner of the elections with nearly half of all votes.

Following the defeat Dotcom apologized to Mana leader Hone Harawira and the Maori people. Mr Harawira lost his Parliament seat and Dotcom suggests that he may be to blame for the disappointing result.

“I take full responsibility,” Dotcom said in a short speech. “The brand Kim Dotcom was poisoned … and I did not see that before the last couple of weeks.”

After his speech Dotcom left the building, declining interview requests from local reporters.

In a tweet Dotcom later congratulated the Prime Minister and his National Party on their win.

“New Zealanders have chosen National and John Key to lead. I congratulate the Prime Minister. Please do your best for all Kiwis. Good luck,” he wrote.

Responding to the results Internet Party leader Laila Harre said that the party’s policy went unreported in the media, which mostly focused on scandals and the dirty games being played.

Harre thanked Dotcom for the opportunity to shake up New Zealand politics. She said that Dotcom became the symbol of Internet Mana, but that the party likely underestimated the impact this would have on the campaign.

“There’s been a two-year campaign of vilification of Kim and that was clearly impacted on our campaign,” Harre noted.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The party is currently preparing for the general election in September. While Dotcom will not be on the voting ballot himself, he remains one of the main influencers of the party’s policy.

As the name suggests, many of the party’s core issues revolve around the Internet, copyright included. Today the Internet Party released a draft of its copyright policy with several suggestions for an overhaul of current legislation.

One of the key issues the Internet Party wants to change is the liability New Zealanders face for using VPN services and other circumvention tools to access legal content. At the moment, it is illegal for them to stream content from U.S-based Hulu and Netflix via proxies or VPNs.

TorrentFreak spoke with Kim Dotcom who notes that consumers shouldn’t be punished for the inability of Hollywood to release its content globally. Dotcom hopes that these changes will eventually put a stop to the unnecessary release delays.

“The primary goal of this policy is to force copyright holders to release their content globally, without geographical restrictions. If a TV-show is not available in New Zealand for three months after the U.S. release, there should be no enforcement during this period,” Dotcom tells us.

“Content owners should be held responsible, not the public. The ‘geo blocking’ proposal forces Hollywood to change its business model and release its content worldwide without delays,” he adds.

Dotcom hopes that the Internet Party proposal will serve as model for future copyright law that will eventually be adopted around the world.

Internet Party leader Laila Harré notes that the current situation is unmanageable. The Internet has made it possible to release content worldwide without any delays, but content owners refuse to give consumers what they want.

“A Kiwi who wants to watch the latest season of first run TV shows like Games of Thrones, for example, shouldn’t be forced to jump through hoops to access what should be legally and easily available online. It’s a ridiculous situation in this day and age,” Harré notes.

Thus far most progress has subsequently been drawn in the opposite direction. In an attempt to crack down on people who bypass geo restrictions, Hulu recently started to ban all visitors who use a VPN connection.

Instead of fighting circumvention, the Internet Party believes that copyright holders should address the root of the problem themselves. Making sure that the latest TV-shows can be watched legally is a must, and although some progress has been made over the years, the legal options are still lacking.

“Some excellent work has been done by some copyright owners and content providers to make good legal options available to New Zealanders. But there’s still a long way to go, especially for some types of content such as globally popular first run television shows broadcast overseas but not available in New Zealand for weeks or months, if at all,” Harré says.

Aside from geo blocking issues, the Internet Party also wants to abolish the Internet disconnection sanction available under New Zealand’s “three-strikes” law, and strengthen the “safe harbor” provisions for Internet services to prevent abuse by copyright holders.

The full draft of the Internet Party’s copyright and open research policy is available here.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Although his popularity found few borders due to the nature of the Internet, residents of New Zealand welcomed him with unrivaled enthusiasm, particularly during his many media and public appearances. Buoyed by this warm reception, Dotcom set his eyes on shaping the future.

On September 1 2013, Dotcom told TorrentFreak that he was preparing to become the president of a new political party.

“I have created a draft political program and I am in the early stages of meeting potential candidates to join me,” he said.

Just over four months have passed since that first announcement but it’s now clear that the political preparations have been underway for some time. Yesterday the Mega.co.nz founder stepped forward with an eagerly awaited piece of information – his party’s name.

“My new political party won’t be named Mega Party,” said Dotcom, quashing speculation that the party would follow the trend set by his former companies.

“We are the Internet Party,” he revealed. “Here’s our logo for the first time.”

‘Mega’ speculation aside, the choice of ‘Internet Party’ comes as little surprise given Dotcom’s history and his stated aim of making New Zealand a significant Internet economy player. His mission, to take Kiwis into the technological future, a place that the current government “doesn’t know much about”, is clearly still high on the agenda.

Since he is not a New Zealand citizen Dotcom will not be able to stand for election himself. However, he will overcome that limitation by taking up the role of president when the Internet Party is officially launched on January 20, two years to the day since the authorities descended on his Coatesville mansion.

While Dotcom’s popularity is already at an all time high, he isn’t expecting an easy ride, warning over the weekend that his rivals will be out in force, ready to inflict “low blows and smears” against both him and the party.

“My attackers are worried. They should be. We will get more than 5 percent. My political party will activate non-voters, the youth, the Internet electorate,” he warned.

Just as Dotcom predicted, attacks didn’t take long to surface. Earlier today Cameron Slater of the Whale Oil blog continued his long-standing anti-Dotcom rhetoric alongside the publication of a document said to reveal the Internet Party’s strategy.

In the meantime, a spokesman for the Electoral Commission told 3 News that the Internet Party is yet to be officially registered although a domain name already appears to be in the bag.

InternetParty.co.nz was registered last December by Alastair Thompson, a former editor of Scoop.co.nz. The Parliamentary Press Gallery journalist stepped down from his position a few hours ago when the extent of his involvement with the Internet Party was made public. He insists that while he is indeed a consultant, he is yet to be offered an official position.

According to the leaked document (which Thompson is describing as “an early draft of a proposal”) the party is aiming to secure places for three MPs. Knowing Dotcom’s determination and tenacity, one can’t rule that out.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.