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THE VIKINGS WERE once the scourge of the North Atlantic, and their descendants are in line to vote the Pirate Party into government in Iceland later this year.
Earlier this year, Iceland’s ruling coalition and opposition agreed to hold early elections caused by the Panama Papers scandal, and the Pirate Party is one beneficiary.
Their platform includes direct democracy, 35-hour working weeks, drug decriminalisation, a new national constitution – and asylum for US whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The Pirates are expected to field candidates in each constituency and until recently had been leading national opinion polls in the tiny nation of 232,000 people, which lies around 800 miles from the coast of Ireland.
The most recent Gallup poll, from 29 July, puts the Pirate Party in second place on 25.3%, with the more conservative-minded Independence in first with 26.2%.
A poll of polls for the online news outlet Kjarninn in late June had the Pirates comfortably the country’s largest party on 28.3%, four points clear of Independence.
The Pirate Party has also persuaded Pokémon Go to turn Icelandic polling stations into Pokéstops for the election, which is expected to take place on 29 October.
“It’s gradually dawning on us, what’s happening,” Birgitta Jónsdóttir, leader of the Pirates’ parliamentary group, told The Guardian.
It’s strange and very exciting. But we are well prepared now. This is about change driven not by fear but by courage and hope. We are popular, not populist.
“I look at us and I think, we are equipped to do this,” Jónsdóttir added.
Actually, the fact we haven’t done it before and that we won’t have any old-school people telling us how, means we’ll do it more carefully. We will be doing things very differently.
Iceland’s former prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigned in April after the Panama papers showed he had stored millions of pounds of family money offshore.
Iceland’s Pirates were founded four years ago by a group of activists and hackers as part of an international anti-copyright movement.
They won 5% of the vote in the 2013 elections, winning three out of 60 seats in the Althingi parliament, but have become less of a protest party.
Now, the Pirates are predicted to return between 18 and 20 MPs to the Althingi after the election, putting them in a strong position to form Iceland’s next government.
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“We are popular, not populist”. I love that phrase. It’s a distinction we are not good at drawing here in Ireland.
Change for hope not fear is another good one. Too much fear mongering been done in politics.
fear and hate are far easier to appeal to than hope and trust
We should start building a load of round-towers again just to be on the safe side
Ha! I welcome our Viking overlords!
hide yer jewel encrusted chalices!
They’d probably do a better job than the current jokers we’ve got in this country!
Where is this nice weather that journal said was coming a few days ago, via a copy and paste.
If i remember the article correctly it was due to arrive Sunday and Monday.
Ah it’s only two o’clock!
still a bit cloudy
The Althingi is the Lower House, but all the work gets done in the Upper House, the Thingamabob.
Methinks you are getting mixed up with the Yokeymebob and the Thingamajig
They’re in the Isle of Man, your confusing them with the Doodad and Whatjacallit. We studied them in Eurothingumy studies in college.
Direct democracy, I like that part!
practical in a country with a larger and more diverse populous?
Direct democracy starting to sound good after the Fine Gael back scratchers allow the likes of Regina Doherty and all the other opportunistic trough feeders to jump on the taxpayer bandwagon.
Excellent. I can see the journal with their usual spin already, they are not a protest party they are a party on course to be the government
you would find the negative side to anything No2
This, when it happens, will be another country moving to Participatory Democracy (Direct Democracy), when the count is over. It is good to see. This is a core aim of UnitedPeople.
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Participatory Democracy allows citizens to regain greater voting power, hold their elected more accountable – more often than five years and it allows them to call greater attention to matters which needs addressing. Citizen referendum creation ability is part of this process.
It’s all very well and good to talk of ‘direct democracy’ if your country has a population just under half that of Belfast. It becomes less practical one you try applying it to countries with say 10 million people or more…
Over my and many others dead body will we move to direct democracy (ie mob rule by the hard left). Civil war will follow shortly after. And you will be on the losing end.
Ireland had Direct Democracy under the old Irish Free State constitution on 1922 in Articles 47,48 & 50 whereby the public decide the agenda of the day. Switzerland has direct democracy in place. In Switzerland the people keep the politicians under control whereby in Ireland the people are kept under control by the politicians who have ruined this country and given away all out natural resources. Iceland the people are not idiots like the thick gombeen Irish.
Iceland are sorting out their corrupt politicians and we get “Leprechaun Economics”. Wake up people of Ireland!
Direct democracy is the greatest threat a country can face.
You’re a laugh altogether.
except Switzerland has direct democracy and Ireland coincidentally an EU member state has nothing but an image of democracy.
Wouldn’t need to achieve much to be better than our treasonous lot
We Irish like to give out about it, then meekly accept it and go for a feed of pints. Just like the way we celebrate coming nowhere in football tournaments. We more or less let the geniuses who caused the crash off scot free. Iceland could teach us a lesson in maturity.
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