Pirates Party's rapid rise upsets German landscape

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Pirates Party's rapid rise upsets German landscape



NEUMUENSTER, Germany (Reuters) - With some sporting pirate garb and black beards in light-hearted tribute to their name, Germany's internet-savvy Pirates party gathered this weekend to chart a course that may yet take them to the national parliament. The party aroused a mixture of rye amusement and angry derision when it stormed onto the political scene last year garnering 8.9 percent of vote in Berlin's city assembly. Since then, however, it has staked a claim to third place in the party pecking order, garnering 11 to 13 percent in opinion polls. ...






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