On Monday, 2 May 2016, a new Chairperson for the Swedish Pirate Party (PPSE) was elected. PPSE has been without a leader since the end of 2014. At the current General Assembly the members of the party decided to elect Magnus Andersson, from Gothenburg, to this position.

The Swedish Pirate Party provided the seed for the Pirate Movement that later spread across the globe. The founder of the party, Rick Falkvinge, was the leader of the party from 2006 until 2011. Rick decided that five years of leadership was enough and handed over to the vice-leader, Anna Troberg, who was in charge of PPSE between 2011 and until the end of 2014. Since PPSE had never elected a leader before, there was no process in place to find someone to take over in a democratic manner.

When Anna Troberg left her position, the board of PPSE had the power to choose the next leader on their own. However, without a clear choice, the board opted to extend the process (and to make it more democratic) by working to change the statutes to enable the Pirate members to elect their own leader. During the past year, the board has taken a more operational role in the management of the party’s daily activities. Most of the focus, without a leader, has been on improving internal processes and structure.

On May 2nd, Magnus Andersson was elected the leader of PPSE with a lot of support behind him:

Alright friends and beloved ones, if you haven’t seen it or understand what is happening at the moment:
A few hours ago I was elected leader of the Swedish Pirate Party!

It’s a fantastic show of faith from my fellow party members to give me this mandate and I will most definitely do my very, very best to live up to their expectations as well as my own.

The future is coming, and it brings so much fun and excitement that I can hardly wait!

– Magnus Andersson, Leader of PPSE

Featured image: Copyright with permission, Magnus Andersson.

This article has been slightly changed for style purposes – 6 May 2016.

About Josef Ohlsson Collentine

I’m a dual citizen (American/Swede) and try to integrate my reflections from a more global perspective if possible. I’m the organizational leader for Pirate Times and work actively to strengthen the pirate movement through this work as well as being the international contact for Piratpartiet (PPSE). Elected board member of PPSE for 2015-2018.
If you would like to ask me something I speak English, Swedish and Spanish. Find me on the links below

 

• 
• 
• 
• 

 

On Monday, 2 May 2016, a new Chairperson for the Swedish Pirate Party (PPSE) was elected. PPSE has been without a leader since the end of 2014. At the current General…