The left-wing coalition led by Denmark’s Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, has won the elections held on Tuesday in the country with 87 seats and more than 49 percent of the votes, which will allow the president to remain in government.
After exit polls predicted that neither the left-wing nor the right-wing bloc would have the possibility of reaching a majority, the final vote count in the polls has given the victory to the left, as reported by the public channel TV2.
The social democratic party has won two more seats than in the previous elections, when it obtained 48, thus obtaining more than twice as many seats as the second most voted party in the country, the conservative Venstre, which has gone from 43 to 23 seats.
The other parties of the left-wing coalition have managed to obtain 37 seats, which added to the Social Democratic seats, makes a total of 87. However, to these results it would be necessary to add a representative from the Faroe Islands, as well as two possible representatives from Greenland -both North Atlantic territories of Denmark- which would give the ‘Red Bloc’ the majority, which stands at 90.
On the other hand, the Moderates party of former Prime Minister Lokke Rasmussen obtained 16 seats, thus positioning itself in the middle between the two traditional political blocs.
However, having won more seats than the right-wing bloc, the left will be able to negotiate with the moderates a cross-cutting consensus Executive, as Frederiksen has been promising throughout the campaign of the current president.
At around 2.30 a.m. (local time) the Prime Minister of Denmark arrived at Christiansborg -the presidential palace-, supported by a tide of social democrats, to whom she confessed to be «immensely happy and proud».
During her victory speech, the Danish leader addressed Rasmussen in order to form a broad government.
«In my 2019 speech, I thanked Lokke Rasmussen for playing along and responding. Now I hope that it can become a collaboration,» said Frederiksen, detailing that this Wednesday he will present to Queen Margrethe II the resignation of his current government, according to the aforementioned channel.
Later, in a debate following the completion of the scrutiny of the mainland of Denmark, Frederiksen recalled that the Social Democrats went to the elections «to form a broad government».
«If the majority points to me as a candidate, I will investigate whether it can be done. Because that is what will be good for Denmark,» he added, stressing the importance of a consensus Executive in times of crisis.
Frederiksen has led Denmark since 2019 with a Social Democratic minority government, which has relied mainly on the parliamentary support of the left-wing parties, but also on the votes of the right, for example, on immigration.
The general elections were held early after the Social Liberal Party – a government partner of the Social Democrats – forced the Prime Minister to bring forward the vote in exchange for not tabling a motion of censure.
The economic management of the country at a turbulent time for the whole of the old continent due to the war in Ukraine, added to a report against the Executive’s management of the mink crisis, slaughtered by a mutation of the coronavirus, were the main arguments for the pressure exerted by the government partners.
Thus, Frederiksen finally agreed in early October to call general elections for this Tuesday, eight months before the technical expiration of the current legislature in which, after the 2019 elections, the Social Democrats reached the government with the support not only of the Social Liberal Party, but also of the Green Left and the leftist Red-Green Alliance.
