Danes vote Tuesday usually elections that opinion polls counsel will probably be shut, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen seen because the favorite after standing as much as US President Donald Trump over Greenland.
Frederiksen, a Social Democrat who has been in workplace since 2019, has been praised for her management after heading off Trump’s repeated calls for to annex Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory he claims the United States wants for nationwide safety causes.
Read extra‘A really tough time’: Danish, Greenland PMs meet after Trump backs down on tariff threats
The row over the huge Arctic island has nevertheless not been central within the marketing campaign, which has targeted extra on such points as the price of residing, immigration and the surroundings.
Recent opinion polls credit score the centre-left bloc with a slight lead over the precise, however neither had been seen garnering a majority within the 179-seat parliament.
“The future composition of the (coalition) government is very uncertain, but it is likely that we will end up with (Frederiksen) as head of government,” stated Elisabet Svane, political analyst at Danish newspaper Politiken.
“People may not really like her, but they see her as the right leader,” she stated.
Frederiksen “is a unifying figure in a world full of insecurity, and Danes are quite anxious – there’s Greenland, Ukraine, (and mystery) drones” that flew over the Scandinavian nation final 12 months, Svane stated.
In addition, “it’s hard to imagine a right-wing government because it would have to unite such a broad swath, from the far right to the more centrist parties, which are not on very good terms with the far right”, stated Ole Waever, a political science professor on the University of Copenhagen.
Polling stations open at 8:00am (0700 GMT) and shut at 8:00pm, when exit polls will probably be revealed, with last outcomes anticipated round 4 hours later.
The 4 abroad seats held by Denmark’s two autonomous territories – two for Greenland and two for the Faroe Islands – might tip the stability if the election outcome may be very shut.
The centrist Moderate get together, led by Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, a two-time former prime minister, might additionally show decisive if issues go right down to the wire.
Interest in Greenland
In Greenland’s capital Nuuk, the marketing campaign has generated extra curiosity than traditional, with greater than 20 candidates standing.
“I think this election will kind of show us the direction going forward,” stated Juno Berthelsen, a member of Greenland’s native parliament and chief of the Naleraq get together, which desires to chop ties with Denmark as quickly as attainable.
Several of the get together’s members have met with the Trump administration.
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Greenland’s predominant political events all need independence from Denmark, however Naleraq’s rivals favour a extra measured course of.
Greenland’s Business Minister Naaja Nathanielsen, a candidate for the left-wing IA get together, stated concern of the United States had been central to the marketing campaign in Greenland.
“Due to the fact that the US has shown such aggression, you would find a bigger interest in really trying to push the Greenlandic narrative in the Danish parliament,” she stated.
‘No place right here’
In metropolitan Denmark, Greenland didn’t get a lot consideration within the marketing campaign.
“Greenland is part of Denmark and we need to take care of it, but it’s not something I think about when I go to vote,” 21-year-old voter Clemens Duval Thomsen stated.
In the rich nation of six million folks, the marketing campaign has as an alternative targeted on home points, together with inflation, the welfare state and excessive nitrate ranges in water from agriculture.
In a rustic the place the far proper has closely influenced coverage because the late Nineties, immigration has additionally been a sizzling matter, with the Social Democrats advocating even tighter rules.
The far-right Danish People’s Party, which slumped within the 2022 election however has seen an upswing in opinion polls, is in the meantime in favour of ending everlasting residence permits.
Frederiksen has additionally defended as “fair” a proposal to disclaim non-essential well being care to folks of overseas origin who threaten medical personnel.
“It has to be this way: in addition to the formal punishment in the judicial system, we’re saying, ‘You have no place here’,” she stated.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260324-denmark-votes-in-close-election-overshadowed-by-trump-s-greenland-bid