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Iceland's Pirate Party Tops Polls Ahead of National Elections

posted by janrinok on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:55AM   
from the they-had-a-dream dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

The Pirate Party looks set for a successful outing in the coming weekend's Icelandic elections.

A poll by local newspaper Morgunblaðið and the Icelandic Social Science Research Institute of the University of Iceland reports support for the Pirate Party is running at about 22.6 per cent, a point-and-a-half ahead of the ruling Independence Party and four points clear of the Left-Greens. That's impressive support, although the party's support has fallen a couple of points since March 2015.

Iceland uses s proportional representation system so the party's current level of support will likely translate into about 15 seats in the 63-member Althingi.

That won't be not enough for Píratar, the party's Icelandic name, to take government. It's also ruled out a coalition with the Independence Party.

But earlier this year Independence split and the recently-formed splinter group Viðreisn (tr. "Regeneration") is polling at 8.8 per cent and has ruled out joining a government with any of the current coalition parties. If the Pirates can align with Viðreisn and other like-minded parties it may therefore become part of a governing coalition and win some ministries.

Four years for a party founded by geeks to take over the government is not bad.

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Original Submission

• Re:You sorely underestimate... Re:You sorely underestimate... (Score: 2) by dry on Friday October 28 2016, @12:58AM

  by dry (223) on Friday October 28 2016, @12:58AM (#419670) Journal

  Australian elections, along with most of the world, have much simpler elections. In an election you vote for 1 or possibly 2 representatives. I assume that Australia is like Canada, where there is a Federal election and a separate Provincial/State election and also separate municipal elections.
  One of the weird things about the American election procedure is that they vote for everything at once, so you get huge ballots with everything from President down to dogcatcher on the same ballot. This also encourages voting along party lines.
  In Canada, often the Provincial parties don't even exist at the Federal level as well as the opposite. As well many municipalities don't even have parties. Not sure about Australia but it is probably similar.
  Anyways, when I vote in most Canadian elections (not municipal), there is only one question, who my representative will be. Government is formed by whoever has control of Parliament and if needed, there is another election.

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• Re:You sorely underestimate... (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday October 28 2016, @01:24AM

  by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Friday October 28 2016, @01:24AM (#419681)

  I have just voted in my Local body Elections, which is a combination of First-past-the-post, single transferable and mixed member voting. I voted for (something like) 30 candidates in about 8 different races.
  Counting was completed over the weekend.

  The US could easily change their electoral system, but why would the incumbents get rid of their major advantage?

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• Re:You sorely underestimate... Re:You sorely underestimate... (Score: 2) by Mykl on Friday October 28 2016, @03:07AM

  by Mykl (1112) on Friday October 28 2016, @03:07AM (#419703)

  Australian elections, along with most of the world, have much simpler elections. In an election you vote for 1 or possibly 2 representatives. I assume that Australia is like Canada, where there is a Federal election and a separate Provincial/State election and also separate municipal elections.
  ...
  In Canada, often the Provincial parties don't even exist at the Federal level as well as the opposite. As well many municipalities don't even have parties. Not sure about Australia but it is probably similar.

  Mostly correct. I'm Australian:

  • We have separate elections (at different times) for Federal, State and Local, so it is simpler to vote on any given day
  • All voting is paper-ballot based
  • It's very important to note that voting in Australia is mandatory. This massively reduces the influence of interest groups such as the gun lobby, conservative religious groups etc and produces politics that are aimed at the 'average Australian' (which I am prepared to concede could be seen as negative by some, particularly when relating to our shameful rollback of a carbon tax a few years ago)
  • When voting Federal or State, you are placing votes for the House of Representatives (one winner per electorate/region, usually 4-8 candidates, preferential voting) and the Senate (multiple winners per wider area e.g. per state in Federal elections, preferential voting though you can also place a single 'party line' vote above the line and have the party select your preferences)
  • In the case of the Federal Senate, there are usually dozens of candidates across about 20 parties (the majors and various micro-parties) on the ballot. From memory, the last ballot had about 80 candidates on it. That can take a few weeks to work out the final candidates at the end, though most candidates can be confirmed within a couple of days
  • For the House of Representatives, virtually all candidates are confirmed on the night of the election. Particularly close races may take an extra few days
  • Our Federal and State parliaments (legislatures) are overwhelmingly represented by the two major parties in Australia, however both parties need to carefully moderate their policies etc to avoid minor parties gaining too much traction. The Greens here have successfully forced environmental agenda items into both major parties over the years through the threat of 'taking seats away'. So while they don't hold a large number of seats, they are very influential
  • The senate is even tricker, as there are a larger proportion of independent and minor party members there. This means that legislation needs to be carefully negotiated with these groups to ensure success. Usually the government of the day will obtain agreement in principle from these groups to pass most legislation, and make deals to support government causes in return for their own legislation getting up. This has been both good and bad for Australians in the past
  • Overall, I feel that the system works quite well - I'd be terrified if we had a 'first past the post' system

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  • Re:You sorely underestimate... (Score: 2) by dry on Friday October 28 2016, @04:36AM

    by dry (223) on Friday October 28 2016, @04:36AM (#419723) Journal

    Thanks for clarifying. I obviously made a few assumptions which were wrong.
    Here in Canada, the present government has promised to get rid of the current first past the post system. With what remains to be seen. My Province had a referendum on changing the voting but it failed with like 59% in favour

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  • ''voting in Australia is mandatory'' (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @01:26AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @01:26AM (#420009)

    That's not exactly true.
    Aussies are required to show up at the polls and sign in.
    At that point, am Aussie can deface his ballot with scribbles or rip his ballot into little bits and hand it back.
    Actual voting is not required.

    ...and the fine for not showing up is like $25.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

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