The Pirate Party ( nl, Piratenpartij, PPNL) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, formed in 2006 but not officially registered until 10 March 2010. The party is based on the model of the Swedish

Pirate Party Pirate Party is a label adopted by Political party, political parties around the world. Pirate parties support Civil and political rights, civil rights, direct democracy (including e-democracy) or alternatively Participatory democracy, partici ...

Positions

The party purposefully limits itself to a limited number of positions. It wants to curb

Dutch copyright law Copyright in the Netherlands is governed by the Dutch Copyright Law (called ''Auteurswet''), copyright (auteursrecht in Dutch) is the exclusive right of the author of a work of literature or artistic work to publish and copy such work. A work o ...

''(where it wants non-commercial use to be free)'', to remodel

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

law, to protect and strengthen (digital) civil rights, a

transparent government Open government is the governing doctrine which sustain that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction, it opposes national interest, r ...

and a considerate handling of IT-projects by the government. Its Declaration of Principles says that its purpose is "to change global legislation to facilitate the emerging information society, which is characterized by diversity and openness. We do this by requiring an increased level of respect for the citizens and their right to privacy, as well as reforms to copyright and patent law."

Electoral performance

General elections

The party participated at the

2010 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 9 June 2010. This was triggered by the fall of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's fourth cabinet on 20 February with Queen Beatrix accepting the resignation of the Labour Party (P ...

. The party gained no seats in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, becoming the third highest-ranking party not to gain any seats in the election—with over 10,000 votes (0.1% of the national vote). On 12 July 2012, the candidate list for the 2012 general election was announced. The party leader,

Dirk Poot Dirk Poot (born 1968) is a Dutch programmer and politician who is a former lijsttrekker and spokesperson for the board of the Pirate Party of the Netherlands. Poot was the lijsttrekker of the Dutch Pirate Party for the Dutch parliamentary ele ...

, who two years earlier was 4th place on the list is first on the list, with former leader,

Samir Allioui Samir Allioui (born 1983) is a Dutch politician and activist. From August 2009 to April 2010, Allioui served as the Co-President of Pirate Parties International, firstly with Pat Mächler and later with Jerry Weyer. He was later elected a Co-Ch ...

, coming last on the list. The party achieved 0.3%, over 30,000 votes, almost tripling their vote from the last election but failing to meet their target of entering parliament. They also became the largest party not to be represented in parliament. The party took part in the

2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November ...

on 15 March. The

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a political ...

was

Ancilla van de Leest Ancilla van de Leest (Rotterdam, 21 July 1985), born as Linde van de LeestPlayboy 2004 nr. ...

. The party got 0.34% of the votes (35,478 votes), but since 0.67% of the votes is required to gain a seat, the party did not enter the Dutch national parliament.

European Parliament elections

The Pirate Party has participated in two European elections: in 2014 and in 2019. In 2019 the Pirate Party formed a common list with the From the Region Party.

Provincial elections

Municipal elections

The party participated at the

2022 Dutch municipal elections The Dutch municipal elections of 2022 were held on 16 March in 333 municipalities in the Netherlands. This election determined the composition of the municipal councils for the following four years. Background In the previous municipal electio ...

. In the municipality of

Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbor-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade wi ...

, the party garnered 380 votes (5.03%), which earned the party a single seat (out of 17) in the Enkhuizen municipal council. Nationwide, the party gained 3251 votes (0.05%), with the aforementioned seat being the only one earned (out of 8237).

International

The party is member of Pirate Parties International (PPI). International cooperation through the PPI is seen as crucial to realising the goals of the party. The positions of the party are based on the Pirate Party Declaration of Principles.

, co-founder of PPNL and party leader during the 2010 elections, was Co-President of

Pirate Parties International Pirate Parties International (PPI) is an Political international, international non-profit and non-governmental organization with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Formed in 2010, it serves as a worldwide organization for Pirate Party, Pir ...

(PPI) from July 2009 until April 2010.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirate Party Of The Netherlands

Political parties established in 2010 2010 establishments in the Netherlands