Dundorf

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Rikkert Van Der Plaas Founds the 'Pirate Party'

May 5690

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Rikkert Van Der Plaas, former Independent Presidential candidate, is the leader of the new 'Pirate Party of Dundorf'.

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Sudschloss, Grozvic - Months after his unsuccessful presidential bid, former Independent Presidential candidate Rikkert Van Der Plaas announced to a press conference in his hometown of Sudschloss that he has founded the Piratenpartei Dundorfs (Pirate Party of Dundorf), a new populist party. Van Der Plaas surprised everyone last February, when he won rougly 14% of the votes in our country's first direct presidential election and placing himself third overall in a field of seven candidates. Back then, he floated the idea of founding a new party, 'neither left or right', focused on the promotion of civil rights alongside an economic agenda based on austerity and strict fiscal responsibility. Now, that idea has come to life.

Political commentators have noted that he uses populist rhetoric, and that his policies can be mostly described as 'libertarian'. Others note that he isn't willing to position himself in either the center-left bloc (DSDP-DRF-GPP) or the center-right bloc (NDZP-KBP-TLD), and that this position could destablize the current status of Dundorfian politics. His proposal, during the campaign, to sell Karlottenberg Schloss (the Presidential residence) in order to 'pay off the debt' was met with criticism mixed with humor and positioned him as a populist fiscal conservative candidate. At the same time, he vowed to 'fight' officials who don't support LGBT+ or gender equality, and outlined the necessity to further uplift minority voices in Dundorf, like the Narik ethnic group to which he belongs: 

The State needs to be reduced heavily: only this way we will get our economic freedom back and everyone will have the same rights as anyone else. Neither the Socialists or the Conservatives will lead us there!

His new party seems to adhere strictly to his worldview: they support major tax cuts, major spending cuts including welfare, and more lax laws on worker's protection. They also support full marriage equality, the legalization of drugs and a more relaxed immigration stance. This platform draws criticism from both left and right, DSDP, GPP and DRF drafted a common press release:

The workers of this country know that they don't need a small government. That would mean less protections for them, and more power to wealthy corporations. He also wishes to give a big tax cut to his wealthy friends by cancelling our country's welfare state. Never!

 
Leonie Habsburg of the KBP criticized Van Der Plaas' stance on immigration: 

We welcome his ideas on shrinking the role of the central government. But some of his other ideas are just crazy: this is a man that would like to set a open border policy in Dundorf! People should know that this will never happen as long as the KBP yields enough power in the Bundestag!

 
While Chancellor Freda Gimbel (NDZP) criticized his populist rhetoric: 

We need fixers, not people that like to create problems. Unfortunately, many of the Pirate Party's position would just lead this country to anarchy and chaos. Dundorfians can trust that as long as the NDZP is in power, we will continue to lead the country with steadiness, guided by the passion of solving problems.

Mr. Van Der Plaas confirmed to the Zeitung that he plans to lead the party in the November general election, and that he began recruiting candidates all across the country. He stated that upon announcing the new party, his website was 'flooded' with applications to join: 

The establishment is very scared of us already, and they should: on our website, we have already over ten thousand people who applied to join the party, and counting. Dundorfians want more freedom and they know the current establishment won't give them that. We are ready to enter in a cabinet with anyone that agrees with at least 75% of our platform, but we will never join neither the so-called 'center-left' or 'center-right' coalitions.

The logo of the new party: