Despite a last-minute majority for the left-wing camp surrounding her ruling Social Democrats, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on election night that she would tender the resignation of her minority government on Wednesday. In doing so, she wants to pave the way for exploring the possibilities of the broad government she pursues with parties from both political blocs. Such a form of government is rare in Denmark – but according to Frederiksen it is the right choice given the current crises.
The Social Democrats were again clearly the strongest force in the elections with 27.5 percent. They had their best election result in 20 years, Frederiksen told party supporters early Wednesday morning in Copenhagen. But: “It is also clear that there is no longer a majority behind the government in its current form.” She therefore wanted to go to Queen Margrethe II on Wednesday to submit her government’s request for resignation. If a majority of the parties elect her as an exploratory commissioner, she will examine whether a broad-based government can be formed. Such a constellation would be good for Denmark, confirmed Frederiksen.
Germany’s northern neighbor had previously experienced one of the most dramatic election nights in its history. Forecasts and forecasts had long indicated that neither the red, left-wing nor the blue, center-right coalition would gain a majority. At the time, the key role between the blocs was in the hands of former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen with his new centrist-liberal party, The Moderates. After counting all the votes cast in the country, the picture tilted to the left at the very last minute: the red bloc jumped to 87 mandates, while the blue bloc came to 72, 16 going to Løkke’s moderate.
90 of the 179 seats are needed for a majority in the Danish parliament in Copenhagen. 175 of these mandates are in Denmark, two in Greenland and the Faroe Islands, both of which are officially part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Faroese mandates were already split between the two blocs on Monday. As with the last six elections, the two Greenland mandates went to the red bloc early Wednesday morning after nearly all votes had been counted. The left camp should receive exactly 90 mandates.
However, during the election campaign, Frederiksen emphasized several times that he was striving for broad government cooperation across the political center. However, a red majority should significantly improve its negotiating position in this regard: if the moderates from Løkke standing between the blocs or parties of the blue bloc do not respond to their demands in the possible negotiations, they can put a lot of pressure on them with the prospect of doing this again to set up the red camp.
These left-wing parties already support Frederiksen’s previous purely social-democratic minority government in parliament. In some cases, such as her strict immigration policy, Frederiksen often relied on votes from the right. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there was also cooperation between the blocs in the military field, and recently there was also cooperation in supporting the Danes in the fight against soaring energy prices.
A central question in future government negotiations will be to what extent Frederiksen can cooperate with her predecessor Løkke. He was prime minister from 2009 to 2011 and from 2015 to 2019. He left the liberal-conservative party Venstre in 2021 after decades. After that, Løkke founded the moderates, who will now be the third strongest force on their debut with a preliminary 9.3 percent of the vote.
By contrast, Venstre, which leads the centre-right alliance, lost heavily: after 23.4 percent in the last elections in 2019, Løkke’s ex-party was only 13.3 percent this time around. However, it remains the second strongest force behind Frederiksen’s Social Democrats.
(SDA)