German Pirate party takes 8% in Schleswig-Holstein local election

Internet pirates win 6 seats in German provincial election

With six new seats in Schleswig-Holstein, the Pirates now are represented in state legislatures in Berlin, Saar state and Schleswig-Holstein. They also are expected to win seats in next week's election in North Rhine Westphalia, giving them good chances of winning seats in Germany's national parliament in the general election next year.

The pirates, who oppose copyright and favour free downloads, are attracting general disenchantment among young voters with Germany’s mainstream parties.

Germany ruling parties lose poll in Schleswig-Holstein

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) scored 31%, their lowest tally in the state for 50 years.

The CDU's national coalition partners, the Free Democrats, slumped to 8%.

The opposition SPD finished just behind the CDU on around 30%, but are expected to be able form a coalition with the Greens and a party representing the state's Danish-speaking minority.

Discontent is growing at the ballot box and the winners are winning increasingly small majorities and previously small fringe parties heading towards 10% support. Europe is now at the stage where reactive politics will accelerate the transition to negative social mood politics. Until this election, Greece accepted the Troika recommendations and France agreed with the German sponsored financial treaty. Finland held some anti-bailout positions, but didn't really rock the boat. Now, France wants to renegotiate and Greece wants out. Europe is now at the point where one player will defect or at least threaten it, and this will weaken any plea for unity by ruling centrist parties.