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Politics

Pirate Party poll gains continue

Published: 5 Jun 09 08:33 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/19882/20090605/

The Pirate Party continues to gain ground in Swedish opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s EU-parliamentary elections.

In two new polls published on Friday, the party received support from 8.2 percent and 6.1 percent of voters.

Support for the Social Democrats, however, continues to trend downward in both polls. Sweden’s largest political party now has support from 27.9 percent and 26.2 percent of voters.

The Moderate Party, which currently leads the centre-right coalition Alliance government, has seen poll numbers drop in recent days as well, as has the Left Party.

According to the latest poll by the Sifo, the results of which are published in the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, the Pirate Party received support from 8.2 percent of voters, which is enough to give it two seats in the European Parliament.

The party’s support has grown by 2.2 percent since the previous poll, which is a statistically significant rise.

The 3.8 percent drop for the Social Democrats, which brings the party’s overall support to 27.9 percent, is also statistically significant.

The overall Sifo poll results are as follows, with the change from the previous poll in parentheses:

Left Party: 6.0 percent (-0.5 percent); Social Democrats: 27.9 (-3.8); Green Party: 10.9 ( +0.7); Centre Party: 5.1 (-0.1); Liberal Party (Folkpartiet): 11.4 (+1.3); Moderates: 21.3 (-1.3); Christian Democrats: 4.4 (+1.3); June List: 1.7 (-0.2); Pirate Party: 8.2 (+2.2).

The poll was carried out between May 25th and June 3rd, and is based on interviews with 1,897 people.

In the last poll by Synovate before the election, the Moderates and Social Democrats lost the most support, with the latter polling at 26.2 percent, down from 30.3 percent in Synovate’s previous poll.

The Moderates, meanwhile, saw their support fall from 26.3 percent in May to 22 percent, according to the poll results, which were published in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.

The overall Synnovate poll results are as follows, with the change from the previous poll in parentheses:

Left Party: 5.0 percent (-1.0 percent); Social Democrats: 26.2 (-4.1); Green Party: 11.0 (+1.9); Centre Party: 6.2 (+0.5); Liberal Party (Folkpartiet): 10.9 (+1.9); Moderates: 22.0 (-4.3); Christian Democrats: 6.2 (+1.5); June List: 2.9 (+1.4); Pirate Party: 6.1 (+0.7).

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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09:44 June 5, 2009 by amira helenius
I don't know why Sweden is involved in this ?

Let people download and if the producers are not happy then they are the ones who should take action not Sweden!
10:05 June 5, 2009 by Plowbridge H. Broad
Protest voting is all good and well but in an economic downturn one needs to vote for a party that has policies to assist in returning growth. As this party not only have no economic policies but indeed refuse to discuss matters on such one is wasting their vote and is ridiculing the countries status. I think it is also further proof that the political situation in Sweden is farcically inane.
11:08 June 5, 2009 by ShaneW
Protest voting is good if people actually go out and vote when ordinarily they would never vote.

I would much rather people vote for a Party that has a whole raft of policies rather than a single issue.

For me the EU has more important roles, like keeping us safe, secure and economically vibrant rather than internet freedoms, not that those liberties arent important.

I wonder what happens in the next EU elections when the PP have hardly shown up or voted on matters other than internet related issues.
11:11 June 5, 2009 by Serendipitiz
The Pirate Party has made it very clear on their website that they focus on certain issues, and will partner with one of the larger parties - so calling them farcially inane is rather farcially inane and uninformed.

Piratpartiet tar inte ställning höger/vänster-frågor, eller andra frågor som ligger utanför vårt principprogram. Vi är beredda att stödja såväl en socialdemokratisk som en borgerlig regering. Det enda vi är intresserade av är att marschen mot kontrollsamhället byts mot en marsch mot kunskapssamhället utan integritetskränkande övervakning, och att kulturen och kunskapen släpps fria i samhället.

Vårt mål är att komma in i riksdagen och få en vågmästarstälning. Om vi lyckas med det kommer vi att prata med både Mona Sahlin och Fredrik Reinfeldt. Vi kommer att förklara vad det är vi vill, och påpeka att våra hjärtefrågor faktiskt på intet sätt går emot vare sig traditionell socialdemokratisk politik eller traditionell borgerlig politik.
11:30 June 5, 2009 by Carl
Dude - if you want your point of view to be understood here, write in English. You took it in school and hear it on the TV everyday, so it can't be that hard, but if so, there's always Google translate :-).
11:38 June 5, 2009 by Miss Kitten
Mr. Kitten's svensk mamma, who has never voted for anything other than Social Democrat her entire life, just voted for the Pirate Party. I mean, how cool is that?
11:39 June 5, 2009 by marina.alison
The best process is Protest voting I will say, because If the winning party does not made to their promises, In future they will be not having a single vote because the public will be the one who is going to choose them.......A very nice blog dude........
13:07 June 5, 2009 by Xavid
Well if sweden and perhaps the EU never passed laws that nobody wanted perhaps there would be no need to vote for the Pirate Party.

I mean perhaps I would not want them to run the EU. But a couple of seats I think would be good so they can question the issues that alot of people are against. And it is a great wake up call for the other parties telling them that they should not pass laws that nobody wants. (like IPRED and FRA)
13:14 June 5, 2009 by byke
I myself have already cast my vote for the PP.

I think the biggest misconception is the name "pirate party" when in fact it should have been redubbed the "PRIVACY party".

And while the PP may not have any long term plans etc, they have risen due to the fact that a keystone in democratic freedoms have been removed from the swedish constitution, and that is the right to privacy.

I feel that while these breaches are in place, that any other politics is futile until the foundations of rights and freedoms to that in which politics is based upon is restored.
13:59 June 5, 2009 by Daveo
Yo Carl Dude Bro or whatever you pretend to be!!

I had no problem understanding the response in Swedish. I'm sure most of the other people that read here didn't either. Don't forget this is Sweden and the native language here is Swedish. Do you actually live here like I do the past 10 years or are you just a wannabe??
14:08 June 5, 2009 by Puffin
Can posters please remember to post in English as this is an English speaking board
14:19 June 5, 2009 by eZee.se
A link (to a video in English) for the uninformed /morons/ or shills that keep saying the pirate party has just one agenda or that keep saying the pirate party just wants everyone to get "free sh!t".

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2541736281918823479

BTW, full disclosure, i already voted for PP
14:21 June 5, 2009 by eZee.se
@Byke,

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."
14:32 June 5, 2009 by Miss Kitten
Topics merged.
20:00 June 5, 2009 by "green Swede"
At the end of the day,a protest vote is valid as it will make the mainstream parties stand up and take notice of why people didn't vote for them ie freedom of 'information' internet or otherwise and privacy issues. so as far as i'm concerned on sunday the 7th,the big boys better stand by to repel boarders!!!
16:02 June 7, 2009 by dtes
dear "Plowbridge H. Broad" returning GROWTH IS THE LAST THING WE NEED! growth is the thing that has killed us! WE NEED SUSTAINABILITY and if we cant build that then i wanna see it all collapse!
16:05 June 7, 2009 by Puffin
Do you mean that we need sustainable growth
00:16 June 8, 2009 by Yendor
People voted for the Pirate Party so that they can send some guys down to the EU parliament to fight for their right to download films and music for free. Those people have hit "rock bottom" in their lives!
00:20 June 8, 2009 by Bender B Rodriquez
You truly are a complete moron...
00:28 June 8, 2009 by kaze
Why does the local love pp so much anyway? Been all over the news here for ages.
04:06 June 8, 2009 by för30årseden
Yendor has it exactly right. If you don't like the copyright laws, stick with things in the public domain. Ooops! But that stuff is crap. Who wants to read and listen to stuff in the public domain? They want the good stuff, but they just don't want to pay for it. But what's sadder is that there is nothing more important to them than listening to copyright music for free. There is a whole big world out there with big issues and the only thing that these guys want is to stay in their rooms (in their parents' house), get stoned or drunk, and listen to pirated music.

But luckily Kipling's "The Winners" is off copyright!

Sing the heretical song I have made--

His be the labour and yours be the spoil.

Win by his aid and the aid disown--

He travels the fastest who travels alone!

Oooops! But I forgot -- these guys don't leave their rooms!

Topic continued: Swedish Pirate Party secures 7% of vote
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