By Satyaki Chakraborty
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats and the other left wing allies in her ruling coalition emerged as the single largest group in the national elections in Denmark held on March 24. Out of the total 179 seats in Parliament, the ruling block got 84 seats as against the right leaning parties 77 seats. Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen’s party, the centre right Moderates got 14 seats thereby giving the Minister big leverage in the coalition talks.
This election results in Denmark indicate the same pattern in Europe following municipal elections in France held on March 22. Within a span of three days, European voters halted the advance of far right but allowed them to increase their support base. In Denmark also, the Right bloc improved their position but that was not enough to cross the Left block tally.
PM Frederiksen however can get some relief at the fact that the ruling coalition’s performance was better compared to projections in the opinion polls and the results of the local polls last year. The Social Democrat leader is better positioned to head the new coalition as against the Right bloc. If the PM succeeds, this will be her third time as PM.
Denmark PM had a highly turbulent period in the last few months on the issue of the sovereignty of Greenland which the US President Donald Trump was claiming as a part of the U.S. The Denmark PM strongly contested Trump claim and became the symbol of Denmark’s sovereignty and independent spirit. She was supported by other European nations. That way the Danish PM became the representative of Europe fighting Trump on the issue of sovereignty of Greenland.
The issue came up during the election campaign. Social Democrats used the Danish sovereignty as a talking point while the Right parties more or less took the position that by fighting Trump, the Danish Social democrats would only create problems for the economy of Denmark. In the two seats in Greenland, the US takeover issue was the prime one. The Greenland voters gave strong verdict in favour of the present status.
For the Denmark PM, the problem is to persuade the Moderate leader Rasmussen who wants to be the PM by making use of his 14 member strength. He is also in talks with the Liberal Party leader Poulsen who has got most of the seats from the Right bloc. So as of now, there is a total chaos. The discussions for ministry formation may take weeks, if not months.
The 48-year-old Social Democrat PM called an early election last month hoping to benefit from a “Greenland bounce” in the polls in response to her robust handling of Donald Trump’s threats in January to invade the largely autonomous territory that is part of the Danish kingdom. The issue is still hot though Trump is now not giving any attention due to his preoccupation with Iran war. For the time being, the US negotiating team is just carrying on routine talks in Copenhagen on Greenland since no major instructions are coming from Washington.
On Tuesday the Greenlandic prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, described the vote as the most important for the Danish parliament in the Arctic island’s history. “We are in a time where we have a superpower trying to acquire us, take us, control us,” Nielsen told AFP. “They have a desire to do it, so we are still in a very tense situation. Danish PM Greenland people also on Tuesday and thanked them for their unequivocal position on supporting the present status. (IPA Service)
