Title: Pirate Party Germany Content: The Pirate Party Germany (German: Piratenpartei Deutschland; short: PIRATEN, "Pirates") is a political party in Germany based on the model of the Swedish Piratpartiet. . . == Party Platform == The party opposes the loss of civil rights in telephony and on the Internet, in particular the rules for keeping information about telephone calls and Germany's new Internet censorship law called Zugangserschwerungsgesetz. The party favours the civil right to information privacy and reforms of copyright, education, computer science and patents. It wants more open and transparent government, and the electronic inspection and control of government operations by the citizen. == History == thumb|left|Development of membership (dated: April 15, 2010) The party was founded on 10 September 2006. Party leader has been Patrick Schiffer since August 2016. Previous leaders were among others Sebastian Nerz, Dirk Hillbrecht, Jens Seipenbusch and Christof Leng. In February 2009, the village spokesperson of Hohenstein, a city councillor in Strausberg, Jens Knoblich joined the Pirate Party Germany. In June 2009, Bundestag member Jörg Tauss, who has been charged with the crime of child pornography possession and distribution, left the SPD and joined the Pirate Party after the Zugangserschwerungsgesetz was passed. He said that while he supports the fight against child pornography, the means are unacceptable. In late August 2009, Herbert Rusche, one of the founding members of the German Green Party and, in the 1980s, the first openly homosexual member of parliament in Germany, joined the Pirate Party. . == Election results == ===2009 German Federal election=== On 27 September 2009, the PIRATEN received 2.0% (845,904 votes) in the 2009 German federal election. This result means that the party failed to secure any seat in the Bundestag, however this was also the best result among the parties who did not achieve the required 5% threshold. Among the first-time male voters the party received 13%.. The election results in 2009 means the party still qualifies for some government funding of campaign finance.Gesamtübersicht Feststezung der staatlichen Teilfinanzierung für das Jahr 2009 gemäß §§ 18 ff. PartG (in German), dated: 21 January 2010. ===2009 European Parliament election=== thumb|Election results in the 2009 European Parliament election It received 229,117 votes in the 2009 European Parliament election, which was 0.9%, but not enough (at least 5%) for a seat. The number of party members has increased since then. As of March 2010, the party had over 12,000 members. ===German State and Regional elections=== On 30 August 2009, the PIRATEN received 1.9% in the 2009 Saxony state election. On the same day, the party also received one seat in each council in the local elections of Münster and Aachen, although candidates of the party ran for office only in some constituencies of both cities.Piraten ziehen in Stadträte ein (German), gulli.com, 30 August 2009 Support for The PIRATEN differs between States. The party received 1.8% in the 2009 Schleswig-Holstein state election and 1,5% in the 2010 North Rhine-Westphalia state election (though without securing seats), but only 0.5% in the 2009 Hesse state election and did not participate in the 2009 Brandenburg and Saarland state elections