State and Politics in Germany

In September 2011 the Pirate Party managed to get all 15 of its candidates into Berlin's City Parliament with an amazing 8.9 percent of the vote - a figure that nobody had at all reckoned with. According to the latest surveys, the young party would also meet with similar approval on a federal level.

When the first projections flashed across the TV screens on the evening of the 18th September, there was no containing the joy and jubilation at the Pirate Party's election party in Berlin. Although they had in fact been confident that for the first time their party would win a few seats in a German state parliament, never in their wildest dreams however did they think they would get almost nine per cent of the vote.

The party is particularly popular among young voters under the age of 34. It got the strongest support from the “non-voters-turned-voters’ camp” with about 23,000 votes. The Pirates however also had quite a field day marauding in the waters of the other parties, above all among those of the Grünen (Green Party), of whom 17,000 defected to the pirates, 14,000 came from the SPD (Social-Democrats) and 13,000 from the Linke (Left Wing Party). Not particularly many votes however came from the voters of the other small parties. About 6,000 former voters of the FDP (Liberal Party) also preferred to give their vote this time to the Pirates, who, in the words of their Deputy Chairperson, Bernd Schlömer, now see themselves as “the strongest liberal party in Berlin”. This rang particularly true as the FDP gained only a mere 1.8 per cent of the vote and therefore failed to clear the mandatory five-per-cent hurdle that is required for entry into parliament and are therefore not represented in parliament.

“What are they about?”

The established parties were absolutely gobsmacked at the Pirates’ resounding electoral success, who not only intend to really shake up the Berlin City Parliament, but also to go big time and win seats in the Bundestag (Germany Federal Parliament) in the 2013 general elections. Many people are asking the question, “What are they about?” The truth is however that, in many political fields, the Pirates themselves are in fact not too sure about how to answer the question.

The only thing they seem to know anything about is the Internet - this was what many of the representatives of the “old parties” were saying up and down the country after the election in Berlin. They were also of the opinion that policies targeting the Internet and copyright issues were all well and good, but surely did not form a permanent basis for party policy and that the Pirates would soon become aware of this.

The party leadership did in fact admit that for the time being they did not have answers to all the questions around at the moment. Nevertheless they do not want to be labelled a party that is only focused on the Internet. They are also demanding free public transport for the Berlin area and the legalisation of soft drugs like marijuana. This of course went down really well in Berlin and not just among the technologically savvy younger voters. Many supporters of the Pirate Party said it was the social and education policies that motivated them to vote for them. The party’s Federal Chairman, Sebastian Nerz, seems to never tire of dictating to journalists that they are a “social-liberal party that stands for fundamental rights”.

“A new operating system for politics”

Many people think all this “Pirate Pandemonium” will soon fizzle out, but no way is that clear. One thing however is clear the Pirates’ success at the polls reflects above all the deep-rooted frustration over the politics of the old parties – and not just on the part of young people, either. The politics pursued by the old parties do not just seem to lack credibility, but also their aims and motives seem suspect. Above all more and more people think they are not capable of dealing with all the massive problems looming on the horizon - like the European financial crisis. Why then should people be afraid to say that they do not have any solution to the problems?

This is why Pirate Party whip, Marina Weisband, at her first federal press conference, announced “a new operating system for politics” that would be completely in line with what her voters wanted. Its centrepiece is to be a totally new code of transparency. And as Berlin's new parliamentarians really seem to mean business, their first parliamentary session was broadcast live on the Internet. The minutes of the session could also be accessed live throughout the transmission.

The Pirates do not think they might do themselves damage by being so open, even if it soon becomes clear to the viewers just how little they know about the business of politics. On the contrary they intend to make a virtue out of necessity. They do not just want the general public to take part in the learning processes they are going through, but to also have a say in the future direction the party might take. It will be interesting to see what they deliver - and not just from the party program point of view, either.