Pirate Party to send MEPs to Brussels

Copyright holders beware, the Pirate party will be sending at least one MEP to the European Parliament!  The Swedish party, whose main aim is removing restrictions on downloading online content, received almost 7.4% of the vote.

It's a result that will guarantee them at least one of the nineteen Swedish seats, and perhaps a second once all the votes are counted.  The PiratPartiet has made the most of the media storm surrounding the legal actions of major record labels against torrent site the Pirate Bay, which has helped them move from 0.6% votes in the parliamentary elections of 2006 to 7.4% in Sunday's European election.

Commentators are also suggesting that it's a sign of the engagement of a new generation of voters entirely comfortable engaging with politics online.