According to an exit poll, Frederiksen’s Social Democrats are set to remain the largest party in the country after Tuesday’s election, but its political survival depends on a new centrist group. An initial survey by public broadcaster DR shows the Social Democrats secured 23.1 percent of the vote, which would have won them 42 of the 179 seats in parliament. This put them ahead of Jakob Ellemann-Jensen’s Liberal Party with 13.5 percent of the vote, or 24 seats. But the outcome is also bittersweet for Frederiksen. If confirmed by official tallies, the 42-seat win would be her party’s worst election result in more than 100 years. In a political landscape divided between 14 parties, both the left-wing “Red Bloc”, which secured 85 seats, and the rival right-wing “Blue Bloc”, with 73 seats, fell short of the 90 seats needed for a majority in parliament. of 179 seats. The remaining seats went to non-aligned parties. The election was sparked by a scandal over a government-ordered mink cull during the coronavirus pandemic. What followed was an uncharacteristically exciting and chaotic campaign, which at times seemed to foreshadow the twists and turns of the final season of popular TV political drama “Borgen.” If confirmed, the exit poll results would mean Frederiksen would need the support of former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his newly formed Moderate party, which secured 9.3 percent of the vote, or 17 seats. Rasmussen has not said he will back either bloc, putting the former prime minister in the kingpin’s seat during the upcoming negotiations. He used this position during the campaign to call for a broad coalition of more moderate parties than the red and blue blocs, a move that could upend the nation’s postwar political order. Some even suggested he could use his post-election clout to push for a senior role or even the prime ministership. However, Rasmussen, who previously served as prime minister from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019 for Denmark’s Liberal party, said he does not envisage becoming prime minister for a third time. “That’s not on my mind,” he said Tuesday morning after casting his vote. Magnus Heunicke, currently the health minister and a member of the Social Democrats, told reporters that voters may have punished his party for some of the decisions it had to make at a “time when there was a real need for someone to show leadership”. “I think we did and we can be proud of that. But it can also have its impact because some people may disagree with some of the decisions we made,” he added. Heunicke reiterated the party’s desire to form a broad, centrist government: “This result only supports our desire for broad cooperation. Now let’s sit together and see if we can form a centrist government.” The Danish People’s Party, meanwhile, which was the second largest party in the country from 2015 to 2019 and the face of far-right politics, lost significant ground, according to the exit poll. He is projected to get just 2.5 percent of the vote, or 4 seats – just over the 2 percent threshold for parliament.
Dramatic campaign
Domestic issues dominated the campaign, ranging from tax cuts and the need to hire more nurses to financially supporting Danes amid inflation and soaring energy prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Once a key issue, immigration has fallen off the agenda, in part because the Social Democrats have vowed to remain tough on immigration, depriving right-wing parties of a potential rallying point. Although Frederiksen’s party will remain the largest in parliament, it has lost popularity in recent months – down from 48 seats to 42 seats if the exit poll is confirmed – after a series of scandals damaged its reputation. These include a 2020 order to kill all of the country’s farmed mink over fears they could spread a mutated variant of the coronavirus, a policy that devastated Europe’s biggest fur exporter. A committee appointed by parliament said in June that the government had no legal justification for the slaughter and had made “grossly misleading” statements when it ordered the sector closed. A left-wing party backing Frederiksen’s minority government withdrew its support as a result of the report, forcing Frederiksen to call a snap election on Tuesday. Her centre-right rivals, however, have also lost ground, with Conservative leader Søren Pape Poulsen hit by revelations about lies told by his ex-husband and the Liberals suffering internal divisions. Negotiations to form a new government could take weeks, with the right-wing bloc likely to try to match or beat any offer made to Rasmussen’s moderates by the red bloc in a bid to regain power. This article has been updated with more details about the poll results and the election campaign.
