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Pirate Party
Ideology	Pirate politics Civil libertarianism Anti-corruption and E-democracy Direct and participatory democracy Copyright and patent reform Software and Internet freedom

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Pirate Party is a label adopted by various political parties worldwide that share a set of values and policies focused on civil rights in the digital age.^[1][2][3][4] The fundamental principles of Pirate Parties include freedom of information, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, digital rights and internet freedom. The first Pirate Party was founded in Sweden in 2006 by Rick Falkvinge initially named "Piratpartiet", and the movement has since expanded to over 60 countries.

Central to their vision is the defense of free access to and sharing of knowledge, and opposition to intellectual monopolies. They therefore advocate for copyright and patent laws reform, aiming to make them more flexible and fairer, foster innovation and balance creator' rights with public access to knowledge. Specifically, they support shorter copyright terms and promote open access to scientific research, educational resources, and courses.

Pirate parties are strong proponents of free and open-source software development. They recognize its inherent benefits: it provides freedom of use, modification and distribution, transparency to avoid unfair practices, global collaboration, innovation and cost reduction, and enhanced security through code verifiability. Net neutrality represents another key pillar: they advocate for equal access to the internet and oppose any attempts to restrict or prioritize internet traffic. They promote universal internet access, digital inclusion, and STEM and cybersecurity education to address digital divide. Equally crucial in their programs are public and private investments in R&D, tech startups, digital infrastructure, smart city technologies to optimize urban infrastructures, and robust cybersecurity measures to protect these systems from cyberattacks. Some Pirate parties also support universal basic income as a response to the economic challenges posed by advanced automation.

They think platform economy can be more equitable and more inclusive if it is based also on commons-based peer production and collaborative consumption, viewing technological innovations as part of the global digital commons—freely accessible to everyone. In contrast to many traditional political positions, Pirate parties reject cyber sovereignty and digital protectionism, advocating instead for the free flow of information across borders and the reduction of digital barriers between countries, while also reducing the influence of both corporate and state monopolies. Therefore, they argue that the internet should remain an open public space, free from restrictions, where people can access, create, and share content without fear of coercion. In terms of governance, Pirate Parties support the implementation of open e-government to enhance transparency, reduce costs, and increase the efficiency of decision-making processes. They propose a hybrid democratic model that integrates direct digital democracy (e-democracy) mechanisms with representative democratic institutions. This decentralised and participatory governance, known as collaborative e-democracy, aims to distribute participation and decision-making among citizens through digital tools, allowing them to directly influence public policies (e-participation). It also incorporates forms of AI-assisted governance, secure and transparent electronic voting systems, data-driven decision-making processes, evidence-based policies, technology assessments, and anti-corruption measures to strengthen democratic processes and prevent manipulation and fraud.

Furthermore, these parties strongly defend open-source, decentralized and privacy-enhancing technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, peer-to-peer networks, messaging apps with end-to-end encryption, virtual private networks, private and anonymous browsers ecc. considering them essential tools to protect personal data, individual privacy and information security, both online and offline, against mass surveillance, data collection without consent, content censorship without due process, forced decryption, internet throttling or blocking, backdoor requirements in encryption, discriminatory algorithmic practices, unauthorized access to personal data, and the abuse of power by Big Tech.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]} Ultimately, protecting individual freedom is at the core of their political agenda, seen as a bulwark against the growing power of corporations and governments in controlling information and digital autonomy. This aligns perfectly with cyber-libertarian values and principles.^[11]

While the name pirate party originally alluded to online piracy, members have made concerted efforts to connect pirate parties to all forms of piracy, from pirate radio to the Golden Age of Pirates. Pirate parties are often considered outside of the economic left–right spectrum or to have context-dependent appeal.^[12]

The first Pirate Party to be established was the Pirate Party of Sweden (Swedish: Piratpartiet), whose website was launched on 1 January 2006 by Rick Falkvinge. Falkvinge was inspired to found the party after he found that Swedish politicians were generally unresponsive to Sweden's debate over changes to copyright law in 2005.^[13]

The United States Pirate Party was founded on 6 June 2006 by University of Georgia graduate student Brent Allison. The party's concerns were abolishing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, reducing the length of copyrights from 95 years after publication or 70 years after the author's death to 14 years, and the expiry of patents that do not result in significant progress after four years, as opposed to 20 years. However, Allison stepped down as leader three days after founding the party.^[14]

The Pirate Party of Austria (German: Piratenpartei Österreichs) was founded in July 2006 in the run-up to the 2006 Austrian legislative election by Florian Hufsky and Jürgen "Juxi" Leitner.^[15]

The Pirate Party of Finland was founded in 2008 and entered the official registry of Finnish political parties in 2009.

The Pirate Party of the Czech Republic (Czech: Česká pirátská strana) was founded on 19 April 2009 by Jiří Kadeřávek.

The 2009 European Parliament election took place between the 4 and 7 June 2009, and various Pirate Parties stood candidates. The most success was had in Sweden, where the Pirate Party of Sweden won 7.1% of the vote, and had Christian Engström elected as the first ever Pirate Party Member of European Parliament (MEP).^[16][17] Following the introduction of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Pirate Party of Sweden were afforded another MEP in 2011, that being Amelia Andersdotter.

On 30 July 2009, the Pirate Party UK was registered with the Electoral Commission. Its first party leader was Andrew Robinson, and its treasurer was Eric Priezkalns.^[18][19][20]

In April 2010, an international organisation to encourage cooperation and unity between Pirate Parties, Pirate Parties International, was founded in Belgium.^[21]

In the 2011 Berlin state election to the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin, the Pirate Party of Berlin (a state chapter of Pirate Party Germany) won 8.9% of the vote, which corresponded to winning 15 seats.^[22][23] John Naughton, writing for The Guardian, argued that the Pirate Party of Berlin's success could not be replicated by the Pirate Party UK, as the UK does not use a proportional representation electoral system.^[24]

In the 2013 Icelandic parliamentary election, the Icelandic Pirate Party won 5.1% of the vote, returning three Pirate Party Members of Parliament. Those were Birgitta Jónsdóttir for the Southwest Constituency, Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson for Reykjavik Constituency North and Jón Þór Ólafsson for Reykjavik Constituency South.^[25][26] Birgitta had previously been an MP for the Citizens' Movement (from 2009 to 2013), representing Reykjavik Constituency South. As of 2015^[update], it was the largest political party in Iceland, with 23.9% of the vote.^[27]

The 2014 European Parliament election took place between 22 and 24 May. Felix Reda was at the top of the list for Pirate Party Germany, and was subsequently elected as the party received 1.5% of the vote. Other notable results include the Czech Pirate Party, who received 4.8% of the vote, meaning they were only 0.2% shy of getting elected, the Pirate Party of Luxembourg, who received 4.2% of the vote, and the Pirate Party of Sweden, who received 2.2% of the vote, but lost both their MEPs.^[28]

Reda had previously worked as an assistant in the office of former Pirate Party MEP Amelia Andersdotter.^[29] On 11 June 2014, Reda was elected vice-president of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament.^[30] Reda was given the job of copyright reform rapporteur.^[31]

The Icelandic Pirate Party was leading the national polls in March 2015, with 23.9%. The Independence Party polled 23.4%, only 0.5% behind the Pirate Party. According to the poll, the Pirate Party would win 16 seats in the Althing.^[32][33] In April 2016, in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, polls showed the Icelandic Pirate Party at 43% and the Independence Party at 21.6%,^[34] although the Pirate Party eventually won 15% of the vote and 10 seats in the 29 October 2016 parliamentary election.

In April 2017, a group of students at University of California, Berkeley formed a Pirate Party to participate in the Associated Students of the University of California senate elections, winning the only third-party seat.^[35]

The Czech Pirate Party entered the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament for the first time after the election held on 20 and 21 October 2017, with 10.8% of the vote.

The Czech Pirate Party, after finishing in second place with 17.1% of the vote in the 2018 Prague municipal election held on 5 and 6 October 2018, formed a coalition with Prague Together and United Forces for Prague (TOP 09, Mayors and Independents, KDU-ČSL, Liberal-Environmental Party and SNK European Democrats). The representative of the Czech Pirate Party, Zdeněk Hřib, was selected to be Mayor of Prague. This was probably the first time a pirate party member became the mayor of a major world city.

At the 2019 European Parliament election, three Czech Pirate MEPs and one German Pirate MEP were voted in and joined the Greens–European Free Alliance, the aforementioned group in the European Parliament that had previously included Swedish Pirate MEPs and German Julia Reda.

Some campaigns have included demands for the reform of copyright and patent laws.^[36] In 2010, Swedish MEP Christian Engström called for supporters of amendments to the Data Retention Directive to withdraw their signatures, citing a misleading campaign.^[37]

Pirate Parties International (PPI) is the umbrella organization of the national Pirate Parties. Since 2006, the organization has existed as a loose union^[38] of the national parties. Since October 2009, Pirate Parties International has had the status of a non-governmental organization (Feitelijke vereniging) based in Belgium. The organization was officially founded at a conference from 16 to 18 April 2010 in Brussels, when the organization's statutes were adopted by the 22 national pirate parties represented at the event.^[39]

The European Pirate Party (PPEU) is a European political alliance founded in March 2014 which consists of various pirate parties within European countries.^[40] It is not currently registered as a European political party.^[41]

In Parti Pirate Francophone, the French-speaking Pirate Parties are organized. Current members are the pirates parties in Belgium, Côte d'Ivoire, France, Canada, and Switzerland.^[42]

^*Held in 2013 due to Croatia's entry into EU

¹Party only participated in North West England constituency
²PPAT is in alliance with two other parties: The Austrian Communist Party and Der Wandel. The alliance is called "Europa Anders" and also includes some independents in their lists
³with Ecological Greens
⁴PPEE are campaigning for an independent candidate (Silver Meikar) who supports the pirate program

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2024)

Representatives of the Pirate Party movement that have been elected to a national or supranational legislature.

• Christian Engström, former MEP for Sweden (2009–2014)
• Amelia Andersdotter, former MEP for Sweden (2011–2014)

Since the 2021 Czech legislative election, the following 4 MPs are in office:

• Jakub Michálek, MP for Prague (2017–)
• Olga Richterová, MP for Prague (2017–)
• Ivan Bartoš, MP for Central Bohemia (2017–2021), MP for Ústí nad Labem (2021–), Leader of the Czech Pirate Party and Minister of Regional Development (2021–2024)
• Klára Kocmanová, MP for Central Bohemia (2021–)

The following served as MPs during the 2017–2021 term:

• Dana Balcarová, MP for Prague
• Ondřej Profant, MP for Prague
• Jan Lipavský, MP for Prague
• Lenka Kozlová, MP for Central Bohemia
• František Kopřiva, MP for Central Bohemia
• Lukáš Kolařík, MP for South Bohemia
• Lukáš Bartoň, MP for Plzeň
• Petr Třešnák, MP for Karlovy Vary
• František Navrkal, MP for Ústí nad Labem (2019–)^[43]
• Tomáš Martínek, MP for Liberec
• Martin Jiránek, MP for Hradec Králové
• Mikuláš Ferjenčík, MP for Pardubice
• Jan Pošvář, MP for Vysočina
• Radek Holomčík, MP for South Moravia[44]^[45]
• Tomáš Vymazal, MP for South Moravia[46]^[47]
• Vojtěch Pikal, MP for Olomouc
• František Elfmark, MP for Zlín
• Lukáš Černohorský, MP for Moravian-Silesian
• Ondřej Polanský, MP for Moravian-Silesian
• Mikuláš Peksa, MP for Ústí nad Labem (2017–2019), then elected to European Parliament

Since the 2024 Czech senate election, the party has 1 senator:

• Adéla Šípová, Senator for Kladno (2020–)

The following are former senators:

• Libor Michálek, former Senator for Prague 2 (2012–2018)
• Lukáš Wagenknecht, former Senator for Prague 8 (2018–2024)

Since the 2024 EU elections, the party has 1 MEP:

• Markéta Gregorová, MEP for Czech Republic (2019–)

The following are former MEPs:

• Marcel Kolaja, MEP for Czech Republic (2019–2024)
• Mikuláš Peksa, MEP for Czech Republic (2019–2024)

Since the 2024 EU elections, the party does not have any national elected representatives. The former MEPs are as follows:

• Patrick Breyer, former MEP for Germany (2019–2024)

• Felix Reda, former MEP for Germany (2014–2019)

Since the 2024 parliamentary election, the party does not have any national elected representatives. The former MPs are as follows:

• Andrés Ingi Jónsson, MP for Reykjavík North (2016–), originally as a member of the Left-Green Movement, member of the Pirate Party (2021–2024)
• Arndís Anna Kristínardóttir Gunnarsdóttir, MP for Reykjavík South (2021–2024)
• Björn Leví Gunnarsson, MP for Reykjavík North (2016–2017) and later for Reykjavík South (2017–2024)
• Gísli Rafn Ólafsson, MP for Southwest (2021–2024)
• Halldóra Mogensen, MP for Reykjavík North (2016–2024)
• Þórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir, MP for Southwest (2016–2017), for Reykjavík South (2017–2021), and for Southwest (2021–2024)

• Birgitta Jónsdóttir, MP for Reykjavík South (2009–2013), and for Southwest (2013–2017)
• Ásta Guðrún Helgadóttir, MP for Reykjavík South (2015–2017)
• Einar Brynjólfsson, MP for Northeast (2016–2017)
• Eva Pandóra Baldursdóttir, MP for Northwest (2016–2017)
• Gunnar Hrafn Jónsson, MP for Reykjavík South (2016–2017)
• Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson, MP for Reykjavík North (2013–2016, 2017–2021)
• Jón Þór Ólafsson, MP for Reykjavík South (2013–2015) and for Southwest (2016–2021)
• Smári McCarthy, MP for Southwest (2016–2021)

• Sven Clement, MP for Centre (2018–)
• Marc Goergen, MP for South (2018–)
• Ben Polidori, MP for North (2023–2024), left the party in 2024 and joined LSAP^[48]

Outside Sweden, pirate parties have been started in over 40 countries,^[49] inspired by the Swedish initiative.

• Biopiracy – Harmful and/or unethical bioprospecting research
• Copyleft
• Criticism of copyright
• Internet freedom
• Piratbyrån
• Right to privacy
• Steal This Film
• The Pirate Bay

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pirate parties.

• Pirate Parties International – official website