Perhaps one of the most important tests for Pirate Politics today, as the German state of Saarland goes to the polls. Can the PiratePartei repeat the success of Berlin last year. Liveblogging the results, I’m assisted by Peter Boehm of the Piratenpartei.

All times are in CET

21:30 And that’s it from us this time. I wish I’d been able to start earlier, but next time things will be better! Promise!

21:24 A quick look around the news has a nice Associated Press piece, where the Pirate Party was branded ‘an upstart’, before commenting that it is emerging as a national political force. Later on, they commented on why they think it has succeeded “That underlined the growing threat it poses to its competitors with a platform based on near-total transparency and Internet freedom.”

21:08 So, to finish off this (much shortened) liveblogging, Let’s recap. Pirates take 4 of the 51 seats in the Saarsland state Parliament. The final election results are CDU 35.2% (up 0.7% from 2009) still at 19 seats. SPD 30.6% (up 6.0%) gaining 4 seats to 17. Die Linke 16.1% (down 5.1%) losing 2 seats to 9. Green Party 5.0% (down 0.9%) and dropping a seat to have 2. Pirates, 7.4% (up from nothing last time) to gain their first 4 seats, and the FDP at 1.2% losing not just 8% of the votes, but all 5 of their seats, as they failed to make the 5% barrier.

20:49 The Greens, allies to the Pirates in the European Parliament, are on shaky ground. the 5% threshold is 24,062, and they’ve polled 24,248, a 186 vote margin, which is very close, especially if there are any challenges.

20:42 All the results are back now, and the preliminary official results show Piratenpartei has 35,646 votes, 7.4%

20:00 Reuters has also commented, giving the Pirates “up to 8 percent of the vote” and perhaps most unusually, not adding any negative pejoratives to it, keeping to the fair, simple (and above all ACCURATE) comment of “fast growing”.

19:51 The final few results are still to come in, but it’s a measure now of just how well they did, rather than will they make it. While they might not have hit the 8.9% of Berlin either, a 7% result is very impressive considering the difference in the region.

19:45 In case you missed it, Rick’s posted a nice comment on the election

19:42 Bloomberg has one of the first English language pieces covering the election that I’ve seen, although it gives the pirates only half a sentence, in the ‘also-un’ (or should that be ‘also won’) category.

19:28 Of course, FDP’s attacks come because of massive losses here. They’ve gone from 9.2% back in 2009, to around 1.2% at present, meaning they’ve got no chance of reaching the 5% barrier. how this will play out on the national stage is anyone’s guess.

19:25 ZDF’s age breakdown currently shows that 18% of  those under 30 voted for the Pirates, 12% of those 30-44, and 7% of those 45-59. While only 1% over those 60 or over voted Pirate.

19:24 Predictions are that Pirates will pick up 4 of the 51 seats in Saarland’s state parliament.

19:22 46 back now, and with 31,815 votes, their percentage has increased to 7.5%

19:18 Peter just pointed out to me at the FDP’s criticism mirrors that of Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, German Minister of Justice (and FDP member) from earlier this month

19:15 ZDF meanwhile, is currently showing Pirates with 7.6% of the vote (hattip My2s4U)

19:14 With 40 results in, the PiratenPartei has 21,954 votes now, and keeps at a steady 7.3%

19:11 FDP’s North Rhine-Westphalia state chairman criticizes Pirate Party as ‘anarchists’ and plagiarists in weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag

19:06 With 37 back, we’ve got 20,821 votes and still 7.3%

19:05 It seems that they’re going to get into the state parliament, that’s not in question now. What seems to be the issue is how well they will do.

18:57 Current Results with 32 of the 52 results back, show the Pirates have 17,540 votes, for 7.3%

18:55 The server is back up!

18:52 The server for PiratenPartei Saarland is offline, not sure when it will be back.

18:50 Starting the liveblogging a BIT later than hoped.