The Pirate Party — which is committed to freeing up the internet — came up big, garnering 9% of the vote (!) and winning seats in government for the first time in the party’s history.
Merkel’s party came in second and their coalition partner failed to qualify for any seats in regional elections in Berlin.
The Green Party, while started in New Zealand, achieved its first major victories and worldwide notice in Germany before spreading to other countries. May history repeat itself with the Pirate Party!
I wonder if the Pirate Party would have had an even larger win if the elections were held on Talk Like a Pirate Day (btw – it’s today 9/19)?
All joking aside, the pirate party has some interesting views and I find myself ready more about them. Democracy at it’s finest.
The Pirate Party owes its success to Germany’s use of proportional representation. By getting 9% of the votes, the party gets 9% of the seats.
If there had been 149 single-winner plurality elections held, and the pirate party earned the same 9% of votes, in all likelihood they would have gotten zero seats.
The moral of the story is: proportional representation is good for 3rd parties.
Absolutely!