[pp.int.general] Election results local election in Lower Saxony (PPDE)

[Justus Römeth]

Hello All

There were local elections in the cities and towns of the German federal 
state of Lower Saxony (/Niedersachsen/) on Sunday, and the pirate 
parties of the respective towns and cities took part in them. Overall, 
it seems that more than 50 mandates were won, and the results of the 
federal elections of 2 years ago were surpassed in some places, which is 
awesome given a lower number of voters (real numbers, not percentages).
One should keep in mind that Lower Saxony is one of the less densely 
populated states of Germany, making these successes even more 
astonishing. Most of the result is probably thanks to the local pirates 
in the respective local elections, so those are the ones that deserve 
most of the praise.

This is important for the future in two ways:

Next week we have elections in Berlin, both local and on state-level 
(since Berlin is a so called Stadtstaat, or citystate). The PP Berlin 
was at 6.5% at the last poll, which would actually put them way above 
the 5% threshold into the Berlinian parliament. The successes from Lower 
Saxony are very likely to give them another boost.

More importantly, however, these results put the Piratenpartei 
Niedersachsen and the Piratenpartei Deutschland on the map, into the 
minds of the local citizens both during the election campaign and 
hopefully also during work in the local council during the legislative 
period. It should also further boost morale for the Pirates in Germany 
and elsewhere, as it shows that we can gain enough support to gather 
legislative representation (even at a time when the pirate bay is not in 
the news, and even for political bodies that seem quite removed from the 
places where the big questions that we, in the end, all hope to 
influence, are decided), that (our) hard work pays off and that there is 
progress within the maturing process of the movement.

Kind regards from Hanover

Justus Römeth
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