Iceland Forms A New Government... Without The Pirate Party

from the keep-sailing dept

Tue, Jan 10th 2017 5:46pm — Mike Masnick

Last month, we recognized that while it was still a long shot, it was interesting that the Iceland Pirate Party actually had a chance to form the new government there. A few previous efforts had failed and the job had fallen to the Pirate Party. However, it didn't take long for reports to leak out that the Pirate Party was having trouble building a coalition that would form the new government. And now a new government has been formed without the Pirate Party as part of the coalition:

Iceland's center-right Independence, Reform and Bright Future parties have agreed to form a coalition government and will give parliament a vote on whether to hold a referendum on joining the European Union.

Together, the coalition will hold 32 of the 63 seats in parliament. The Independence Party will have 21 seats, making it the largest party in the coalition.

This was always the most likely result -- as these groups also got the first crack at trying to form a coalition, and couldn't make it work at the time. That was part of what left an opening for the Pirate Party to try. It certainly would have been interesting to see what a Pirate Party-led Iceland would have been able to do -- especially in a time where we really could use a haven for freedom of expression, internet freedom and privacy. But, alas, it didn't happen this time around.

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Filed Under: governance, government, iceland, pirate party

20 Comments

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K`Tetch (profile), 10 Jan 2017 @ 7:31pm

I think I've seen the Icelandic Pirates say that they've already planned of proposing a vote of no confidence in the new government.

So, lots of fun times ahead.

Do wish we could VoNC the US Govt. - I think that would bring a lot more accountability to the process.
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plidgers, 10 Jan 2017 @ 7:45pm

non plidgers
A Pirate is a pirate is a pirate and most non pirate consumers dont care about pirates unless we need one then we go buy what the local pirate selling shops have in stock.
Most consumers just done care about the technical aspects of pirates.
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K`Tetch (profile), 10 Jan 2017 @ 7:58pm

Re:
Hmm, link didn't take
http://grapevine.is/news/2017/01/09/icelands-new-right-wing-government-to-be-announced-tomorrow/ - its in there
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jan 2017 @ 8:02pm

Sorry your pirate friends lost, Mikey.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jan 2017 @ 8:11pm

Re:
Do wish we could VoNC the US Govt. - I think that would bring a lot more accountability to the process.

There is accountability in US government. What we need is accountability of the voters.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jan 2017 @ 8:36pm

Re:
The Icelandic Pirate Party still has 10 seats (out of 63) in parliament so they're not going anywhere, they're just not part of the majority coalition.

Just saying.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jan 2017 @ 9:42pm

Re: non plidgers
> Most consumers just done care about the technical aspects of pirates.

That is, most people simply want their pirate to work out of the box.

For some, that is a rum go, it is.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jan 2017 @ 10:51pm

there is no surprise
Iceland handed the insanity of the bank scam reasonably well but they also let their banks get 100 BILLION DOLLARS OUT, for a county of 3-4 hounded thousand that's a pretty big number so much as I like Iceland it's full of idiots
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2017 @ 1:47am

Re:
Sorry SOPA lost.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2017 @ 3:03am

"However, it didn't take long for reports to leak out that the Pirate Party was having trouble building a coalition that would form the new government. And now a new government has been formed without the Pirate Party as part of the coalition:"

Meanwhile in Hollywood the sound of popping champagne corks and roars of laughter were heard!
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Ninja (profile), 11 Jan 2017 @ 4:48am

It is sad. The Pirates are an attempt to improve the system from within the system. It's by no means an easy challenge considering the system itself works against them. I personally sympathize with the Pirate movement around the world and while there have been failures (Sweden of all places) there are pretty good experiences in other places.

I'm cheering on their success. May the failures be used as knowledge to keep improving.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2017 @ 5:23am

And the reason it didn't happen for TPP was nothing other than the fear of the other parties having to do something new instead of going, yet again, down that same old conventional road, the one that line's politicians pockets with the usual, self-serving payments, while kicking the people they are supposed to be representing under the bus!
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2017 @ 9:04am

Re: Re:
Perhaps one day Mike's dream of pirates running the world will be reality. His awesome defeat of SOPA was a step in that direction. No rules on the 'net, baby! Barlow must be so proud of his boy.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2017 @ 11:26am

...and this upsets Pirate Mike
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Eldakka (profile), 11 Jan 2017 @ 5:31pm

Does this mean that the northern North Atlantic ocean is now safe to sail in?
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2017 @ 7:21am

Re: Re: Re:
Oh, don't worry. We started with Andrew Crossley. Then Evan Stone. Then John Steele. It's not like you knuckle draggers put up much of a fight.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2017 @ 7:22am

Didn't take long for the pests to show up like flies on a corpse.

The John Steele trial will be a sight to look forward to.
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Wendy Cockcroft, 13 Jan 2017 @ 5:58am

Re:
That would be a petty and profoundly undemocratic thing for the Pirates to do. They couldn't lead because they wouldn't lead: Birgitta Jónsdóttir didn't even want to be Prime Minister, she wanted to sit back and make sure the Pirates stayed true to their principles. That's not how leading is done. I really hope they don't do what amounts to throwing a tantrum because they didn't get their own way.

Sometimes "your own way" is the wrong. Damn. Way. Anarchy doesn't scale, people!
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Wendy Cockcroft, 13 Jan 2017 @ 6:02am

Re:
I want Pirates to be involved in the representation of every nation on earth. However, to actually do that, they'll have to learn about how the administration of a state is actually done instead of trying to impose anarchist principles on All The Things!, which is what they are currently doing. In case we haven't noticed, this doesn't work in real life.

The thing to learn, then, is how to ensure that Pirate principles are compatible with the administration of a state-level democracy, otherwise we'll only ever be a noisy pressure group.
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Wendy Cockcroft, 13 Jan 2017 @ 6:03am

Re:
It upsets me, damn it. I wanted them to be in power. As it is, at least they get to have a say in what laws are passed. They have enough seats to make a difference, that's what counts.
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