The outgoing Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will be responsible for leading negotiations with all parties to form a new government in Denmark, the court of the Scandinavian kingdom announced on Wednesday, following legislative elections that placed the Social Democrats in the lead but without a clear majority.
After meeting with the eleven parties elected to parliament, the king appointed Ms. Frederiksen to hold discussions in an attempt to reach a majority.
She will first try to form a left-wing coalition, consisting of two parties – SF (Socialist People’s Party) and De Radikale, a center-left party – as stated by the royal court in a press release.
The left bloc, which includes five parties including the Social Democrats, secured 84 seats, compared to 77 for the right and far-right.
The Moderate Party led by outgoing Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen obtained 14 seats and will play the role of arbiter.
The Social Democrats, recording their worst result since 1903, remain the largest party with 38 seats out of the 179 in Parliament.
Over the past four years, the Social Democrats have led a left-right coalition, but this arrangement is not favored by the Liberals, whose participation in the government has eroded electoral support.
“The most likely outcome is that Mette Frederiksen remains Prime Minister,” said Rune Stubager, a political science professor at Aarhus University, to AFP.
“But it remains uncertain as (centrist) Lars Løkke Rasmussen will also try to vie for this position,” he added, despite his claims to the contrary.
Ms. Frederiksen submitted her resignation to the king in the morning.
“A chaotic election resulted in many losers, few satisfied, and one big winner: Lars Løkke Rasmussen,” Politiken newspaper summarized.
This veteran of Danish politics – a former Prime Minister twice over – can shift the majority to the right or left, or even attempt to form a coalition around himself, according to commentators.
– Lengthy Process –
Danes are therefore preparing for lengthy discussions before the formation of a new government. In 2022, negotiations lasted six weeks.
“It’s a long process, which means that the government will not be formed, and it will be quite difficult to pass laws during this period,” lamented Jesper Dyrfjeld Christensen, a 54-year-old engineer.
With 12 parties in Parliament, the political landscape is particularly fragmented, but Denmark is accustomed to minority governments.
<p"In a way, this is how Danish politics works: you have a minority government in the center that forms a majority with the left on some issues and with the right on others," explained political scientist Rune Stubager.
According to Mr. Stubager, negotiations between parties are expected to focus on economic issues, retirement, pollution, and immigration.
The traditional far-right party, the Danish People’s Party, performed well with 9.1%, tripling its number of seats compared to the last election.
However, the three anti-immigration parties collectively garnered 17%, a stable figure for populist right-wing movements in Denmark for the past twenty years.
The Faroe Islands and Greenland each send two delegates to Copenhagen. While the Faroese re-elected their two incumbent members of Parliament, one for each bloc, Greenland favored the left-wing party Naleraq, which advocates for a rapid independence of the autonomous territory from Denmark.
