REYKJAVIK // The radical Pirate Party made gains but not a breakthrough in Iceland’s election, results showed on Sunday, with voters favouring the incumbent centre-right Independence Party over the advocates of direct democracy and digital freedom.
No party emerged with a majority of parliament seats from an election dominated by public discontent at the establishment after years of financial crisis and political turmoil.
With almost all votes from Saturday’s election counted, the Independence Party had 29 per cent support and the Pirate Party 14.5 per cent, putting them in third place behind the Left-Green movement at 15.9 per cent.
The result should give the Independence Party about 21 seats in Iceland’s 63-seat parliament, with the Left-Greens and Pirates winning 10 each.
It’s a better performance than expected for the Independents, who have governed in coalition since 2013.
The Pirates’ result fell short of what some polls had suggested – and what the party’s fleet of energetic volunteers and supporters had hoped.
Founded four years ago by an assortment of hackers, political activists and internet freedom advocates, the Pirate Party drew international attention as its support surged.
Like Spain’s Podemos or the movement behind Bernie Sanders in the US presidential race, it drew in throngs of mostly young supporters fed up with the status quo.
Pirate Party MP Birgitta Jonsdottir said the results were in line with the party’s own prediction of between 12 and 15 per cent – up from the 5 per cent it secured in 2013.
“We’re just amazed that we’ll possibly maybe triple our following from last time, and it’s only three years,” Ms Jonsdottir said.
The election result looks set to trigger a period of intense political negotiations. It was not immediately clear whether the Independents had the support to assemble a coalition government with other parties of the centre and right.
* Associated Press
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
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Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
