Introduction – About democracy

In recent centuries, democracy has emerged as a way of making decisions within a collective with common interests, where everyone affected by the decisions has some form of influence over what decisions are made. Democracy has thus made it possible for us to disagree without spilling blood. It has given legitimacy to enacted laws by involving citizens in the decision-making process. Everyone should have the opportunity to express their thoughts, feelings, ideas and solutions, and have the same opportunity to criticize others, in an environment that encourages dissent and does not punish those who dare to express themselves. In a democracy, everyone’s opportunity to participate is protected.

A healthy democracy bases its decisions on relevant information and knowledge. All citizens therefore have the task of working for a social debate where information is disseminated and discussed objectively. Information produced with the help of public funds must therefore be freely available for everyone to take part in.

The pirate party wants to strengthen the role of the will of the people in our democracy through reforms of the electoral system and the rules for referenda. Through better protection for the long-term nature of the constitutions, we ensure that the fluctuations of the popular will are balanced with a long-term expression of the society we want to live in. Public power must be exercised under the law.

In a democracy where power is exercised close to the people, those in power become more responsive to the needs and reality of the citizens. Power should therefore be decentralized to the lowest possible political level, and where appropriate, given directly to the people.

1. Protection of the constitutions

Sweden has four constitutions: the form of government, the order of succession, the freedom of the press regulation and the freedom of expression constitution. These form the last barrier against authoritarian rule and guarantee a long-term predictable democratic society. It should therefore not be possible to change Sweden’s constitution too easily or too quickly.

Today, constitutional amendments can be pushed through via two Riksdag decisions with an election in between. Only a simple majority of the members of the Riksdag is required for both decisions. Changes to the foundations of democracy and the rules of the game should have the support of a larger percentage of elected officials, but also of the people, who should be involved in this process and given a chance to formally express their opinion on the matter.

Therefore, we want to:

§1 Amendments to the Basic Law require Riksdag support amounting to 5/7 for both decisions;

§2 Referendum held between the two Riksdag decisions is required for constitutional amendment. This requirement can be achieved either through a special referendum or a separate ballot in connection with regular election day.

2. Improved popular governance

In Sweden, the people lack direct and formal political power. People’s power is realized abstractly through parliamentarism’s Riksdag. Advisory referendums are possible at the local level if 10 percent of the voters in a municipality request it, but the referendum can be prevented by opposition from 2/3 of elected politicians in the decision-making assembly, without any real grounds. National referendums cannot be requested and are advisory only. Therefore, they are also rare.

In a democracy where public power emanates from the people, the people must be able to enforce their will. Therefore, we advocate for pirates increased opportunities for direct democratic procedures.

Therefore, we want to:

§3 Enable the implementation of binding referendums at all political levels;

§4 Remove the ability of elected assemblies to prevent the implementation of requested referendums;

§5 That referendums are dormant until the Legislative Council or a possible constitutional court has given an opinion in which they have explained that the outcome of the referendum in question does not violate the constitution or constitute double legislation;

§6 Introduce the possibility of ranking one’s vote in all referenda with more than two options;

§7 Introduce some form of citizens’ initiative at all political levels. These must be able to result in motions to the relevant decision maker or referendum.

3. Democratized election procedure

Today’s electoral system makes it difficult for citizens to hold elected politicians accountable and have their views represented, especially at the national level.
Because voters primarily vote for an entire party, it can be nearly impossible to vote out individual questionable candidates, while voters also vote for an entire policy package, rather than voting for the politician who best represents their views and values. We pirates believe that voters need improved tools when voting, so the election results are more nuanced and better reflect the will of the citizens.

In addition to being an unnecessary burden on the treasury and the environment, our ballot system has been criticized by international election observers and our own authorities. The absence of some parties’ ballot papers in the polling station creates a false illusion of which parties are standing in the election. This is a democracy problem that needs to be addressed.

Politics at regional and municipal level has been overshadowed by national issues. This has meant that the national issues have gained the ability to influence the local election results, and vice versa. It is a problem for local democracy.

Therefore, we want to:

§8 Appoint a parliamentary committee with the task of developing a new electoral system that gives voters the opportunity to show preference for one or more candidates and parties, without having to vote tactically, through, for example, Condorcet voting methods;

§9 Give the above-mentioned parliamentary committee the task of producing a new ballot which is common to all parties;

§10 Introduce separate election days for municipal and regional elections;

§11 Give the electoral authority the task of, in connection with the determination of all registered parties and candidates before an election, give them space to present their policies on the electoral authority’s website according to a standardized template.

4. Strengthened publicity principle

Citizens can only make sound decisions and take a stand on the decisions made if they are well informed. Information and knowledge about how the public sector works is a prerequisite for being able to evaluate it and remedy any problems. The public sector must therefore work to make information available, among other things by continuously reconsidering confidentiality assessments and proactively publishing material freely digitally.

Therefore, we want to:

§12 That public documents and data from authorities are continuously published in free digital formats, accessible over the internet;

§13 The principle of openness shall apply to all publicly funded activities, including private actors hired by the public sector;

§14 That classification must be limited, justified and subject to re-examination requirements at a specific future date;

§15 Mandate the authorities that their published news and documents must follow free and open standards.

5. Establish a constitutional court

A functioning democracy needs a guardian of the constitution who can withstand the storm of the zeitgeist and work long-term in the interests of the citizens. This task has today ended up on the Legislative Council’s table. They review important legislative proposals and write a statement in which they assess, among other things, whether the law is unconstitutional. However, the Legislative Council cannot prevent the Riksdag from voting through the law and it then entering into force.

In other countries, it is common to have a constitutional court that creates constitutional precedents and acts as the protector of the constitutions. The Pirate Party believes this is a more appropriate model for handling constitutional issues.

Therefore, we want to:

§16 Establish a constitutional court in Sweden;

§17 Investigate how a legal board that recruits the judges of this court could be designed to ensure independence from the government.

6. The principle of subsidiarity

Municipal autonomy is often curtailed by the state when it gives the municipalities ever greater tasks and places higher demands on how these are to be carried out. The Pirate Party believes decisions should be made at the lowest applicable level.

Therefore, we want to:

§18 Strengthen municipal self-government.

7. Fight corruption

Corruption is a problem in all societies, even in Sweden. We have long pretended that it is not as widespread as it is, by pointing to Transparency International’s corruption index, which, however, only measures perceived corruption. Once corruption is discovered, it is called everything from nepotism to incompetence, but very rarely for what it is – namely corruption. The Pirate Party takes a sharp look at this social problem, which manifests itself in the form of irregular employment, conflicts of interest in the exercise of authority or decision-making, misuse of public funds, abuse of power, advantageous agreements with particular private companies and the sale of public property to relatives. In order to more easily review when corruption-inducing situations such as conflicts of interest exist, it would be good to increase transparency in ownership relationships within Swedish companies.

Therefore, we want to:

§19 Investigate how an open and transparent recruitment system for the public sector could look like;

§20 Investigate how public procurement could become a more open and transparent process;

§21 Increase transparency and reduce the influence of money on the political process, including by establishing an open lobbyist register in Sweden;

§22 Require that limited companies report ownership relationships through a standardized API for companies’ book at the Swedish Companies Registration Office;

§23 That an open and machine-readable register of ownership of Swedish limited companies is maintained by the Swedish Companies Registration Office;

§24 That the Swedish Companies Registration Office’s register of beneficial owners is made available without requirements for identification and in machine-readable format.