The past weekend saw political party members in Sweden square off in a tournament known a Politikerstarcraft. Created in 2010 by Jonathan Rieder Lundkvist, who was a member of the Pirate Party, it was originally intended to be a fun distraction from the usual boring news about politics. However, the party that won the tournament in 2010 also ended up winning the election.
Both Sweden’s left and right wing parties participated in this year’s edition of Politikerstarcraft, and rules were implemented to prevent the importing of last minute professional players to compete.
The tournament began with each party paired against their direct opposites: the Left against the Sweden Democrats, Social Democrats against the Conservatives, the Liberals against the Green Party and the Centre Party against the Pirate Party. The previous champion, Mathias Sundin, was unable to return to defend his title as he was busy with duties in Parliament.
“Voting is important, and we seem to forget that,” Lundkvist said. “It’s part of why I created this: to show the politicians esports is a thing and to remind the youth that their votes matter. They should not waste it.”
[Source: The Daily Dot, NyTeknik]
