Danes voted on Tuesday, with mixed results that could complicate Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s hopes for a third term.
Election exit polls conducted by major television broadcasters DR and TV2 point to an unclear balance of power, with the three parties forming Frederiksen’s administration – the Social Democrats, centre-right Venstre and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s Moderates – all expected to fall well short of a majority.
Although his party is projected to come in first place, it is not entirely certain how Frederiksen will be able to secure a third term as Prime Minister.
That could put Rasmussen in kingmaker position, with his centrist party well-positioned to determine whether Fredriksen can secure her third term.
The 48-year-old Social Democrat called the vote months before the October deadline, with a view to leading the country in the fight against President Donald Trump’s threat to seize Greenland.
His party was strengthened by Frederiksen’s rejection of Trump’s threat to seize control of Greenland, an island in the Arctic Ocean that is a semi-autonomous territory controlled by Denmark.
But if the results hold true, the vote would actually represent the worst result for Frederiksen’s Social Democrats since the turn of the last century, falling between 19.2% and 21%, a dramatic drop from the 27.5% they won in the last election in 2022.
Voting affected due to domestic concerns
Tuesday’s exit polls indicate that the political landscape in Denmark is more complex than it appears.
Voting concerns appear to have reached home, with concerns like property tax proposals and the debate about immigration rising to the top again.
Frederiksen had campaigned on the promise that his hard-and-tested leadership skills would help the country of 6 million navigate a complicated relationship with Washington and the European response to Russia’s war with Ukraine.
A fractured political landscape
Frederiksen has led Denmark since 2019, when she became the country’s youngest prime minister at the age of 41.
He was credited with leading a coalition government that bridged the left-right divide for the first time in more than 40 years.
But since then the political landscape has become fragmented, with 12 parties contesting the elections this time.
Projections show the leftist faction that includes Frederiksen’s Social Democrats narrowly ahead but are still expected to fall short of the 90 seats needed for a majority in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament.
Additionally, the four seats allocated to candidates from Greenland and the Faroe Islands could prove decisive.
“I think this is the most important election for the Danish parliament in Greenland in history,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Fredrik Nielsen told AFP in Nuuk. “We are in a time where a superpower is trying to take us over, subjugate us, control us.”
Regardless of who is elected to parliament, Nielsen said, “The most important thing that all Greenlandic parties have agreed on is that we need to work together.”
With the left-wing faction expected to hold on strongly and the right-wing faction expected to disintegrate, Frederiksen remains the favorite to muster the parliamentary majority to rule the coalition.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery