Sweden’s Pirate Party could score EU seat

euRecent polls suggest that Sweden’s newest political group, the Pirate Party, may have a decent chance of winning a seat in the European Parliament on the back of popular support against the guilty verdict handed down in the Pirate Bay trial. With strong backing from younger voters in Sweden, this upstart political party may just produce an upset.

The Local reports that a Synovate survey ahead of upcoming European Parliamentary elections gave the Pirate Party solid support from 5.1 percent of voters. Although not a landslide, if the figures hold until Sweden’s European Election Day on 7 June, the Pirate Party’s candidate, Christian Engstrom will earn a seat in the EU’s legislative body.

The party is riding high on a recent surge in support from younger voters who were unhappy with the guilty verdict in the landmark Pirate Bay trial. The group’s membership swelled in the days following the trial.

Not surprisingly, the Pirate Party’s platform centres around reforming copyright law, as well as the abolition of patents, defence of civil liberties and the right to privacy. Aside from the main issue of file sharing on the Internet, the group wants to see patents for pharmaceutical companies abolished.

Now Sweden’s second-largest political party among voters aged 18 to 29, and the fourth-largest party among voters aged 30 to 44, the Pirates stand an excellent chance of entering the realm of European politics in a month’s time.

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