A party that hangs a skull-and-crossbones flag at its HQ, and promises to clean up corruption, grant asylum to Edward Snowden and accept the bitcoin virtual currency, could be on course to form the next Icelandic government.
The Pirate Party has found a formula that has eluded many anti-establishment groups across Europe. It has tempered polarising policies like looser copyright enforcement rules and drug decriminalisation with pledges of economic stability that have won confidence among voters.
This has allowed it to ride a wave of public anger at perceived corruption among the political elite - the biggest election issue in a country where a 2008 banking collapse hit thousands of savers and government figures have been mired in an offshore tax furore following the Panama Papers leaks.
The left-leaning party is part of a global anti-establishment typified by Britain's vote to leave the European Union. But their platform is far removed from the anti-immigration policies of the UK Independence Party, France's National Front and Germany's AfD, or the anti-austerity of Greece's Syriza.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-iceland-election-idUKKCN11Z1RV
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Wednesday October 05 2016, @08:58PM
Brexit was a right wing movement, UKIP were a breakaway party from the Conservatives, and with issues like immigration to the fore, and an unpleasant nationalistic feel, is very much a pro-establishment view.
Sounds much like the stupid white identity politics that fueled Trump's rise in the US.