Pirates win election in Sweden

The Pirate Party of Sweden has been a big winner in the election of a new European parliament. Defending online privacy rights, taking a stand against software patents and opposing too strickt copyright laws have been the main planks of the Pirate Party platform.

Its membership shot up after a Stockholm court on April 17 sentenced four Swedes to a year in jail for running one of the world's biggest file sharing sites, The Pirate Bay.

The other big winner in Sweden was the Green party who almost doubled their vote. In Finland the Greens did also well, even though their gains were more modest. The Finnish Pirate Party did not take part in the European election, but they plan to field candidates in the next national parliament election in 2011.