Pirate Party: Parliamentary Elections 2022
Preface
"Heads-Up: The area of politics can be very divisive. We're fully aware of that. If the area of politics is sensitive for you, and you are to continue reading this article, we ask you to observe the techniques we used to bring the messaging out, instead of its content."
RocketCoil is a progressive company. Our values are human first, collaborative, and communicative. We strive to be dreamers, but grounded in reality and right here, right now. We love the Randy Pausch quote "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand".
When at the end of the year 2021 it was clear that the next elections (April 2022) will be the political equivalent of Wild West in Slovenia, we were faced with a decision. Stand back, look at the theatre, and comment in the end, or - do something. After a quick glance at the roster of political parties we can choose from, Pirates seemed to be the choice to pick. A progressive party with human rights in mind, and the environment at the forefront, but at the same time, knowing full well that the ideals we strive for are slow to come around, and with consideration to people who might not share your ideals all the way through.
The traditional polar opposites of the political spectrum were far too extremist, dismissive, and oftentimes insulting to different thinking.
We should point out, for the people reading this outside of Slovenia and especially outside of Europe: Compared to the rest of the world, Slovenian politics is still - relatively speaking - tame.
The main “Antislogan” of Pirate Party this year. It’s an answer to the shallow nonsense claims most parties had in the 2022 elections.
The Goal: 4 the people.
The Pirate Party of Slovenia had a fairly simple (not easy) and - arguably - modest goal: To finally enter the Parliament. For this to happen, they had to secure 4% of the popular vote on that fateful day. Simple math will render us the reality, that strictly mathematically speaking, every 25th voter had to circle their number on the ballot. At first look, this seems to be an easy task, but it never was, and as the next few months have shown, it was even harder this time around. Not just for the Pirates, but for absolutely every political party.
The Setting: Simply put - brutal
Like all over the world, after the utter moral devastation that Covid-19 Pandemic left behind, people were essentially resigned about the leadership of the country. The belief, that the - at the time - the current acting government can make the right choices plummeted. There were massive scandals and accusations of corruption, and a lot of people felt that the decisions to handle the Pandemic were wrong, and that's just the most obvious. Not far from that were other decisions, regarding environmental policies, asset allocations, you name it. But overall, the population was still fairly equally split on whether the opposing parties were possibly worse.
A Flyer We Created for Pirates.
The Stage: Who's the loudest?
Towards the end of 2021, when parties were considering their tactics and approaches, and our collaboration started, we had a tough decision to make: How will we spread the word? Quick notice - we can't count on the media.
The media picked their two favorite parties and - for the lack of a better word - relentlessly bashed the opponents. The right-wing party was SDS, at the time acting leaders of the parliament, and on the other side was the newly founded Svoboda, which obviously had virtually nothing to show for it, but their names and former influence alone was enough for the media to paint them as viable rivals. If one was to ask, almost nobody remembers other parties to be mentioned much, if at all, and unless they had followers from before, they simply couldn't count on a good result from this circle of elections. The media simply amplified either SDS or Svoboda.
Our Audience
It's a good time to address who were (seemingly) voters of Pirates. With this in mind, let's quickly take a look at who Pirates are in the eyes of the public.
In the general and popular sense, Pirates in Slovenia historically were "nerds" and "underdogs". Those who followed the political sphere a bit closer saw them as dudes who don't know how to roam in the 'class'. Former leaders of Pirates were usually experts in the information sciences, and this stereotype stuck at least until the latest elections. They were known to support rather liberal ideas, like legalizing marijuana, and that they like nature, although it wasn't a hundred percent liberal because they think nuclear energy is a good choice.
But a significant amount of people simply never took a second peek (let alone look) at a party that calls itself "Pirates". This was the main problem with the population older than the Millenials. Understandably so, because they were used to the three-letter acronyms that usually held either "Slovenian" or "Democrat" or "Liberal" or "Socialist" in their name, or some version of it. It didn't matter what the party did, so long as the name felt familiar.
Pirates chose to go with the youth (for now it still means including millennials). The essential problem with the Slovenian voting-eligible body is that it's virtually impossible to have the young interested in politics. It's a problem almost as old as our country, and most political parties know that.
Especially the conservative parties count on Gen x and older, but those same voters tend to vote for what they already know. The opposing parties thus target the people who are generally against the conservative parties by principle, and for this, they tend to have easy work - just be against the conservatives. However, as such, the party must display their "reliability", and this year's Svoboda already had a champion, seasoned in everything an average voter could ask for. Nothing too dramatic, not too progressive, just elegant and votable.
Now what?
If we take a moment and look at the "playing field", and especially the "competing teams", here's what we see: An extremely hyped-up crowd, looking for blood; and two favorites. This year's match has one, simple, classic goal: To dethrone the legend, backed by devoted fans, who already know he's the right one as if he has been a prophecy since the beginning. His rival is a newcomer, whom everyone else has been waiting for, flashy and shiny, a promised child who will take down the tyrant. He's backed by the need for change, and money.
As it proves again, we, people, just love the duality.
If we avoid further analysis, let's jump back to our team. This is now what we're up against. We need to have people realize that those two are merely different sides of the same coin. Luckily enough, there's been a significant share of people who see the game for what it is - a game. But what lies underneath? What are the values? Do they really care about the people? Do they care about you? Me? Or are they there to perpetuate the interests? There's been a significant amount of voters who want actual plans, actual solutions to actual problems.
Here's where people love Pirates. Very few parties had their programs as elaborate and as explained as Pirates did. It was backed by data, had real achievable numbers at its core, and just the right balance of progressive and liberal ideas while keeping some more than the fair share of respect for the legacy-respecting and conservative communities. From my understanding, they were the pick for the centrist voters.
Objectively speaking, Pirates have what it takes. Now, this is where RocketCoil comes in.