By Brian Johnson - 30th April 2009
A surge in support for Sweden's Pirate Party could see the controversial internet file sharing campaigners win a seat in the upcoming European parliament elections.
A new poll commissioned by Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter shows that the Pirate Party, which campaigns to protect internet users' freedom to share files on the internet, is set to grab 5.1 per cent of the Swedish vote, enough to send its leading candidate Christian Engström to the Brussels assembly.
Pundits put the rise in support down to the recent stiff sentences handed out by a Stockholm court to four founding members of online file-sharing site Pirate Bay.
The party has also benefitted from a public backlash to recently introduced Swedish wire tapping laws, and government plans making it easier to track people who file share copyrighted material over the internet.
Within hours of the sentence being handed out on April 17 - a year in prison and a damages fine of €2.7m – the movement's ranks skyrocketed. According to Swedish press reports, the Pirate Party now has around 42,000 members, and could soon become Sweden's third largest party in membership.
The poll also revealed that the Pirate Party has drawn supporters away from the country's Green and Left parties, and is the second most popular party among 18-29 year olds, particularly male voters in this group.
In a written statement, Engström said " There is a growing frustration today among young people against how repressive legislation… interferes in their daily lives.”
Pirate Party Leader Rick Falkvinge told online file-sharing website TorrentFreak that the latest poll figures, "confirms our recent phenomenal growth in support, and says there will be pirates in Brussels after this election.”
“Scoring like this in a poll will further enhance support for the party. While there’s still much work to be done, we’re on the home stretch and have the goal in plain sight. June 7 is election day. On the morning of June 8, we’ll know.”
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