Dominating the month’s activities was the seizure of servers belonging to the German Pirate Party, just days before elections in some parts of Germany. Not that they were the only Pirate Party contesting an election, as pirates in Canada, the UK, and Spain also ran for office.
So now, a quick chronological breakdown of the month, politically.
May 2nd
First up, the Canadian Pirate Party ran it’s first federal election campaign. Across 10 ridings (districts) they managed around 0.6%. (PPCanada)
May 5th
On the other side of the Atlantic, The UK party ran several candidates on the party list system in Scotland, getting 0.3% – a typical figure for first time pirate party election campaigns. Meanwhile down in Bury, Graeme Lambert scored a very respectable 3.7% in a local election, the best result for the UK, and one of the best results in a first-past-the-post election for any pirate party candidate. (PPUK)
May 13th
The Tunisian Pirate Party files for recognition as a political party. (PPTunisia)
May 20th
The servers of the German Pirate Party were raided by the police. The sites were taken down after a complaint by French authorities, concerning the use of one of the services. The service was allegedly being used to plan a ‘cyber attack’. The raid, dubbed ‘ServerGate’ was controversial as it disrupted the activities of the Bremen state Pirate Party, who were contesting an election 2 days later. The case is still ongoing. (PPDE)
May 22nd
Despite the raids, The Bremen Pirate Party took 5 seats in local elections, meaning there are now around 48 Pirates in elected office across Germany, spanning 9 states. (PPDE-Bremen)
Also, Pirates in Spain contested elections, in two parties. The Spanish Pirate Party ran candidates in their first elections, getting 0.3% in both Madrid and Granada. (PIRATA)
Meanwhile, the separate Catalonia Pirate Party got between 0.8% and 1.2% in the region, with two members elected, one in Sant Fruitos de Bages, and the other in Santa Coloma de Gramenet. (Pirata-Cat)
May 23rd
Well known Pirate party supporter, and blogger Slim Amarou, resigned from the Tunisian Government. After the revolution earlier this year, the blogger and pirate party supporter took a position in the new Tunisian government as State Secretary of Youth and Sports. He resigned his office over concerns of censorship and other topics. (PPTunisia)
May 31st
Finally, In New Zealand, the Pirate Party has been awarded $20,000NZ ($16,300US/€11,150) and 2 minutes of air time for it’s November election campaign. In order to receive it though, the party needs to be on the Register of Political parties by October 20th having the support of over 500 voters. (PPNZ)
Source: Pirate Party News Roundup May 2011
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