The Pirate Party is now measured as the second biggest party in Iceland

[Chippiewill]

The Pirate Party would get about 22% of the total votes if parliamentary elections would take place now, according to the results of Fréttablaðið's survey. This means that party would have fourteen members of the Parliament. In total, there are 63 members of the Icelandic Parliament. That is eleven more members of the Parliament than they had in the parliamentary elections in 2013.

However, the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), one of the ruling parties, is the biggest party. They would have 19 members of the Parliament, the same number as they had in the last parliamentary elections. The Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn), the party of the Prime Minister, would have six members of the Parliament and would lose thirteen members of the Parliament since the last elections.

The Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) would be the third biggest party with eleven elected members of the parliament. The Left Green Party (Vinstri grænir) would have seven members of the parliament, the same number as the party had in the last parliamentary elections. Bright Future (Björt framtíð) would have six members of the parliament, the same number as in the last parliamentary elections.

If that would be the result of the elections, then only one two-party government would be possible. That would the government of the Independence Party and the Pirate Party.

Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson, a member of the Parliament for the Pirate Party, is at loss of words when Fréttablaðið asks him about the results of the survey. "I'm happy to see such a reception, but you also need to keep this. Firstly, it's not self-evident that this will be the result of the elections and not self-evident that this will go on. It's important not to become arrogant because of this," Helgi Hrafn says.

"You can just hope that the reason is that people like what we have to say," he says.

http://www.visir.is/the-pirate-party.../2015150319483

This has come off the back of the ruling party undemocratically chucking out the EU membership application without a vote.

[dbgtz]

Wait, the Icelandic people wanted EU membership? But surely being in the EU would be bad for the Pirate Party? I'm so lost.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Polls show they don't want to join.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessi...Public_opinion

37% for, 47% against.
27% for, 52% against.
25% for, 58% against.

Polls also show that the Pirate Party has been around 20% before, shortly before losing that support before an Icelandic election.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland...election,_2013

Polls also show that this is one poll, and therefore a trend for this supposed new support has not yet been found.



Whether they should have held a referendum on the issue is another thing, but given that joining the EU permanently strips powers away from national parliaments (and will continue to do so) that are then taken away from future electors I don't see it as legit at all. In England and later Great Britain at least, it has always been a principle of our law - until joining the EU - that no government can ever bind the next, and that is something I agree with 100%.

Handing over powers to the Commission is fundamentally anti-democratic even if consent is given by a small majority during a referendum. As the late Tony Benn phrased it, you are handing over the democratic rights of future generations that don't belong to you: you are merely borrowing those rights whilst you are here.

[Chippiewill]

Wait, the Icelandic people wanted EU membership? But surely being in the EU would be bad for the Pirate Party? I'm so lost.

They don't but the government withdrew the application without it going through parliament (They tried and failed to get approval earlier this year) and people are upset because it violated the democratic process.