In a general election widely viewed as a vote of confidence in the country’s leader, the Danish center-left party received the most votes.
The “red bloc” of parties led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has obtained the necessary 90 MPs to establish a government.
Her party of Social Democrats surprisingly gained two seats and achieved its highest performance in a decade.
However, she wishes to establish a bigger alliance and has submitted her resignation to the queen.
In October, Ms. Frederiksen was compelled to call for early elections.
A highly scathing evaluation of her government’s handling of a nationwide mink cull at fur farms during the height of the pandemic was revealed in the summer, sparking controversy.
In the report’s conclusions, it was determined that the government order to kill up to 17 million minks in 2020 had no legal basis. At the time, there were concerns that a mutant type of coronavirus discovered in mink could hinder efforts to develop a vaccine.
Even though it was determined that Ms. Frederiksen was unaware of the order’s illegality, the story shook her coalition, with one party threatening to withdraw its support for the government if she did not call a general election.
Until the very end of Tuesday’s vote counting, it was unclear whether Ms. Frederiksen’s “red bloc” or the center-right “blue bloc” led by Jakob Ellemann-Liberals Jensen’s would win a majority.
With this in mind, there were also predictions that if neither group obtained a majority, the newly established Moderates party – led by two-time former Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen – would determine who would lead.
The Moderates made enormous gains in the election, becoming the third-largest party in Denmark – a remarkable accomplishment considering they did not exist five months ago – but they will not play a kingmaker role in the future government.
Ms. Frederiksen’s coalition was victorious, gaining 87 seats in mainland Denmark.
They also won one seat in the Faroe Islands and are likely to win two more seats in Greenland, an autonomous Danish-dependent region that elects left-leaning politicians frequently. This would grant them 90 seats in the Folketinget and a majority by one seat.
Ms. Frederiksen’s Social Democrats obtained two seats and more than a quarter of the vote (27.5%), making them the largest party in the Folketing by a significant margin.
Ms. Frederiksen stated during a speech at her election night celebration in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, that social democracy won its finest election in over 20 years.
She noted that despite the success of her red coalition, she intended to reach out to the center to form a bigger alliance.
She stated, “We are a party for all of Denmark.”
Ms. Frederiksen informed Queen Margrethe of the election results on Wednesday morning and, instead of continuing as prime minister, tendered the cabinet’s resignation and requested the start of a so-called queen’s round or dronningerunde – the process that precedes the creation of a government.
All parties will visit the queen to determine who would lead coalition negotiations, with Mette Frederiksen largely anticipated to be selected. She promised her supporters in the wee hours of Wednesday that, if elected, she would endeavor to build a government with broad backing.
She stated, “When the Social Democrats say something, we follow through on it.”
