AFTER the party, reality. As the final results came in on the morning of October 30th, it appeared as though the Pirate Party would win about 15% of the vote in Iceland’s parliamentary election, making it the third-biggest party in the legislature. This was a big improvement on the Pirates’ result in the previous election, in 2013, where the party, which mainly campaigns on things like transparency and internet governance, had won about 5% of the vote.
Still, it was not as good as the Pirates had hoped. In April they were polling at about 40%. The then prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, had been caught up in the leak of the Panama Papers, which showed that he had quietly sold a stake in an offshore firm to his wife—a revelation that forced him to resign. Even on the day of the vote, some analysts were predicting that the Pirates would be the biggest party in parliament. The mood at the Pirates’ election-night afterparty was restrained: nerdy types in purple T-shirts and eye-patches furrowed their brows as the results came in. The Pirates could still form a government, though they would probably be second partners to...Continue reading
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