| Haukur Holm |
REYKJAVIK (AFP) – Iceland boasts full employment, a peaceful society and a well-functioning welfare state – yet voters are so frustrated with the political establishment they’re ready to elect the Pirate Party to power.
The country’s legislative elections are still a year away, but the Pirate Party, started by WikiLeaks activist Birgitta Jonsdottir just over three years ago, has enjoyed enormous backing, garnering a whopping 41.8 per cent of voter support in a January 28 poll.
A libertarian movement campaigning for more transparency in politics, Internet freedoms and copyright reform, the Pirate Party is modelled on a Swedish namesake founded in 2006.
Its meteoric rise has even surprised members of the party, which entered parliament in 2013.
When asked if they are ready to take the reins of power, Pirate Party lawmaker Asta Helgadottir, 25, answered with a frank and resounding “No”.
An image from the website of Iceland’s Pirate Party
“But I think a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. If we would get this much (of the) vote, we would be the first to get the right to form a government.
“It would be our duty towards our voters to actually deal with that,” she told AFP.
The party’s inexperience doesn’t seem to put Icelanders off – rather the contrary.
Residents of this large island in the North Atlantic appear ready to turn their backs on the politicians whose complicity with the financial elite led to the spectacular 2008 collapse of the country’s banking system.
Andrea Gudmundsdottir, a 54-year-old chef, used to vote for the traditional left-wing, currently in opposition and struggling in the polls, but now she’s a strong supporter of the Pirate Party.
She wants to send a message to the traditional parties “telling them that we are fed up with the kind of politics they practice”, she said.
“Especially the Independence Party and the Progressive Party,” the two members of the centre-right coalition, she added.
Helga Vala Eysteinsdottir, a 24-year-old waitress, also said she saw the rise of the Pirate Party as “a step in the right direction”.
“I’m sure the party will get good results in the general elections next year. And I trust them to govern.”
From afar, it’s hard to see why Icelanders would be so fed up with the establishment. There’s none of the anger that led the radical left Syriza party to power in Greece or helped Podemos win 20 per cent of the vote in Spain.
Unemployment at the end of 2015 was an enviable 1.9 per cent, and purchasing power was boosted by generous wage increases.
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