Pirate parties have been an indisputable phenomenon of party politics since 2006 when the first pirate party was founded in Sweden. Although this type of party has not achieved widespread success in European party systems, it is in addition to Sweden, for example, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, where this type of party has been able to establish itself - whether in the context of elections to the national parliament or elections to the European Parliament. However, the paper focuses on the current decline in support for pirate parties and the possible redefinition of their focus. In addition to comparing success cases with the help of data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, specific attention is paid to the Czech Pirate Party based on a qualitative analysis. The latter has recently seen a significant drop in support following the government crisis, which resulted in the departure of the Pirates from the government to the opposition. Even the resignation of chairman Ivan Bartoš and the subsequent change of party leadership has not yet been able to reverse this gradual decline. It is, therefore, appropriate to analyze the trajectory of this development and ask ourselves whether the pirate parties are sailing towards more profound and more uncertain waters of party politics.
