Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats have won the most votes in parliamentary elections, at the same time falling short of a majority and showing their weakest result since 1903, writes the British broadcaster BBC.
Frederiksen’s party won 21.9% of the vote, meaning it will have more seats in parliament than any other party, but her left-wing coalition failed to win the 90 seats needed to form a majority. The Social Democrats have been in power in Denmark since 2019, and Frederiksen told jubilant supporters that she was sorry she had not managed to win more votes.
The Social Democrats’ main rival, the right-wing Liberals, also suffered its worst result in a century, trailing the Green Left with 10.1% of the vote.
The prime minister still has a chance of winning a third term, but Denmark is traditionally governed by coalition governments, meaning tough negotiations that could drag on for weeks. With 12 parties on the ballot, the left-wing coalition narrowly defeated the right-wing bloc, which won 77 seats, with a total of 84 seats. Neither bloc has thus managed to win a majority in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament. It is also unclear which bloc will manage to form a majority.
Frederiksen said she had been responsible for Denmark for seven years and was ready to continue doing so.
The outcome may now be determined by the small party of former prime minister and current foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who won 14 seats in parliament. He took the lead in talks with the United States when President Donald Trump shocked the international community with his announcement of his desire to take over Greenland. He told reporters that he was ready to form a government around the center, where his party is located.
The leader of the Liberals, Troels Lund Poulsen, has already ruled out the possibility of the right forming a government with the Social Democrats and has called on Rasmussen to join his bloc to shape a different future for Denmark.
DR political commentator Christine Cordsen has indicated that the most likely option is a center-left government with the Social Democrats, the Greens, Rasmussen’s party and the Danish Social Liberal Party.
This has been a tough election for Frederiksen, and after six years of popularity, her popularity is slowly fading, although most Danes still believe that the prime minister has successfully guided Denmark through international crises. At the same time, domestic political issues – the cost of living, the economic situation and welfare issues – have dominated the campaign. Voters have also been concerned about environmental issues, including the quality of drinking water affected by large-scale pig farms and the impact of agriculture on the climate in general.
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