The latest figures show that the Swedish Pirate Party may reach the EU Parliament. In a new survey by research company Synovate for newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the Pirate Party received 5.1% of voter support.
The support for the Pirate Party has rocketed following the recent file sharing debate in Sweden. In 2006, the Pirate Party got 0.6% in the election for the Swedish Parliament.
The head of the Pirate Party’s Stockholm district, Jan Lindgren, told Radio Sweden at the Pirate Bay Trial judgment that he was confident that the guilty verdict would mean more Pirate Party votes.
“People know that it isn’t enough to listen to ordinary politicians in order to make file sharing legal. The only way to change that is to vote us in – both in the EU and the Swedish parliament”, he said.
According to the survey, many Pirate Party supporters seem to be young men. Among 19-29 year olds the Pirate Party is the second largest party. Among 30-44 year olds it drops to fourth place. Most new supporters seem to have come from the red-green camp, according to Dagens Nyheter.
The survey also showed that the support for the Moderates was 29.7 % and the Social Democrats got 29.2 %. According to Dagens Nyheter, it will be the first time since 1914 that the Social Democratic party is not the largest in a national election, if this is mirrored in the result on the day. However, the survey also shows that 54% of those asked could not yet say how they would vote.
1496 people took part in the survey which was carried out between 20 and 27 April. The European election will be held on 7 June.
Swedish political parties have to gain over 4% of the vote to be guaranteed representation in the European and national parliaments.
(rm)
