The Icelandic Pirate Party is out-polling all the country’s other parties, with 24% of the population backing them.
Iceland previously extended citizenship to Bobby Fischer, an exiled, jailed US citizen who had violated American sanctions against Yugoslavia, springing him from Japanese prison. The Icelandic Pirates are very sympathetic to Snowden and Iceland has often been mooted as a potential refuge for the whistleblower.
If the Píratar can translate that level of current support into actual votes in the next election (currently scheduled for 2017), it could lead to a higher likelihood that the country would grant asylum for Edward Snowden, possibly granting him citizenship as well. The Pirates put forward such a bill (Google Translate) in parliament in 2013, but it has not advanced.
Birgitta Jónsdóttir, who founded the party in 2012, previously told an assembled crowd in Berkeley, California, that she very much wants to help the National Security Agency whistleblower. She currently holds one of the Pirate Party’s three seats in the Icelandic parliament.
Icelandic Pirate Party’s rapid rise may result in citizenship for Snowden [Cyrus Farivar/Ars Technica]