A political party of IT professionals who promised free Wi-Fi and better data protection has won seats in Berlin's parliament by garnering more than the required five percent of votes in Sunday's elections.

The win by the Pirates Party, which will give it 15 seats in the 130-seat Berlin regional parliament, made it into an instant media sensation, overshadowing the victory of the Social Democrats and their popular mayor Klaus Wowereit.

Inspired by a youth movement in Scandinavia, the Pirates are active in 20 countries and the Germany chapter, led by 33-year-old telecoms engineer Andreas Baum was organized five years ago.

The Pirates campaigned on a platform of transparency promising to make public all data and administrative procedures, aside from free wireless Internet and public transportation.

"First and foremost, the Pirate Party is a party of basic rights. We try to focus on civil rights because that is an area that politics has neglected," Pirates Party leader Sebastian Nerz told Deutschlandfunk radio, according to Deutsche Welle.

The group won support from mostly younger voters based on the election analysis of television network ZDF. It also spent less than a quarter of the $2.3 million spent by the overall winner SPD for the election campaign.