The “Evil Chicken” party and the “Don’t vote for us” party. The 6 strangest parties that Europeans can vote for in the June elections

The European elections are fast approaching. Many well-known parties are fighting hard to win the people’s votes, but there are also some that you probably haven’t heard of. Euronews has made a list of six of the strangest parties that Europeans will be able to vote for.

1. The Esperanto Party

Voters in France can put their stamp on the Esperanto Democratic Europe party. It has only one objective: to introduce Esperanto, an artificial language invented in 1887, into the list of 24 official languages ​​of the EU bloc.

“EU bodies operate almost exclusively in English,” documents on the party’s website state. “The European population is isolated from its leaders.”

Is the lack of Esperanto really why voters feel disconnected from Brussels? In 2019, 18,587 members of the French electorate thought yes, which places the party at 0.08% of the national total.

It became one of the 28 parties that ran in France, but did not get any MEPs.

2. The party for millennials

Across Europe, parties are trying to figure out which arguments and strategies will resonate with young or old.

In Germany, however, there are parties for millennials. Alongside mainstream parties such as the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, Germans can choose from a range of options dedicated to vegetarianism, humanism and animal rights.

Or they could opt for a party with even more special interests – dedicated to biomedical research in the field of rejuvenation or stopping the aging process altogether.

3. The “Don’t Vote For Us” Party

In the Czech Republic, there is a “Don’t Vote for Us” party, and its message could prove extremely popular.

The last European elections in 2019 saw a record turnout, attributed to an increase in interest among young voters. But almost half of the electorate chose to stay at home, suggesting lower enthusiasm for EU-related issues compared to national polls.

The party sends voters to a website that proclaims the benefits of “anarcho-capitalism” — a libertarian political theory that advocates reducing state regulation.

4. Evil Chicken Party

Sweden’s Ond Kyckling Partiet, or Evil Chicken Party, is one of 114 groups competing for the country’s 21 MEP seats.

“Initially, the evil chicken was kind of an inside joke,” Svante Strokirk, the party’s founder, who is also at the top of its electoral list, told Euronews. “I don’t remember exactly why, but it kind of changed.”

Although the party has some policy ideas, such as copyright reform, Strokirk seems more interested in testing how easy it was to officially register as a candidate.

He is hoping to get more than 100 votes, which would be a significant increase from the 39 the party got in the recent national elections.

“If you’re a person who wants to vote for the Evil Chicken Party, I think you probably wouldn’t have voted anyway, or you don’t really care who you’re voting for,” he said.

He says he’s not quite sure he wants to become an MEP, although he admits “it would be cool”. “I haven’t gone so far as to look at property prices in Brussels,” he added.

5. The Party of the Dog with Two Tails

Sometimes in politics what starts with humor can end up very serious.

Italy’s Five Star Movement, founded by satirist Beppe Grillo, is forecast by a recent Euronews poll to win 16 of Italy’s 76 seats this June.

The Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party, founded in Szeged, Hungary, nearly two decades ago, set out to poke fun at mainstream politics through humorous artistic stunts – but now says it’s much more than a joke.

Although the party retains its ironic side, lead candidate Marietta Le told Euronews that the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party “draws attention to issues in public life and politics” through “long-term, community-based thinking”.

6. The Party “The Party”

Perhaps the most famous – and, according to most polls, successful – protest party is from Germany, simply called Die Partei (The Party)

Comedian and founder Martin Sonneborn is seeking a third term in the European Parliament this June – with a manifesto that includes a promise to rebuild the Berlin Wall and cap the price of beer and kebabs.

According to the European Parliament’s website, in his ten years as an MEP, Martin Sonneborn has not drafted a single report – the key tool lawmakers use to amend EU law or demand policy change.

Sonneborn told Euronews he was lifting the veil on the EU’s opaque institutions – and also cited interventions into more serious issues, such as how the European Commission negotiated Covid vaccine contracts with Pfizer and the bloc’s troubled relations with Azerbaijan .

“It is crucial not to re-elect the parties that have led Europe to war and crisis.”

Publisher: IC

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