Ancilla Van De Leest

Ancilla is a public speaker, writer and tv personality on the topic of digital issues, privacy and civil rights since 2012. Starting out with an internship at digital rights organisation BITS OF FREEDOM, she has since supported and initiated related activities. She studied to become a certified Data Protection Officer.

The Pirate Party Netherlands (PPNL) elected its top candidate for the national elections that will be held next year (15th of March, 2017). The election for top spot in the coming national elections took place during a general assembly organized specifically for this purpose. Six candidates competed for the top spot in the list.

A series of debates were organized throughout the country. During the third debate, in Delft, Matthijs Pontier retracted his candidacy and expressed his support for Ancilla van de Leest.

In light of this event it was not a big surprise that Ancilla won the internal election by a landslide victory. Ancilla (30) has been a member of PPNL for years. She was born in Rotterdam and a prominent privacy activist. In the past she has worked for, among others, Bits of Freedom. She is also known from her participation in various media and TV shows such as Keiser Report and Pauw & Witteman. She has been published on WIRED, The Next Web and her columns have been printed by FINANCIEEL DAGBLAD (Dutch Financial Times).

“With this election I received a mandate to spread the Pirate ideals during the next four years […] I’m very proud to have been given the confidence of the members. The changes in society that are on the Pirate Party agenda have suddenly become very urgent. Even in The Hague. It’s now my job to be the face of a broad movement. With all Pirates together we are going to make sure that civil rights stay guaranteed in a digital society” – Ancilla van de Leest