Denmark goes to the polls in thriller election
- Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is fighting to cling to power, but neither of the two main blocs looks likely to garner majority in parliament
- New Moderates party, founded by former Liberal Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, expected to win 10 per cent of votes
Like an episode of political drama Borgen, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is fighting to cling to power on Tuesday in a legislative election that could well crown an outsider.
In a political landscape split between 14 parties, polls suggest that neither of the two main blocs can garner a 90-seat majority in the 179-seat Folketing, the Danish parliament.
The left-wing “red bloc”, led by Frederiksen’s Social Democrats, is polling at 49.1 per cent, representing 85 seats, compared to 40.9 per cent or 72 seats for the “blue” bloc of right-wing parties.
“It’s about winning the middle, because the ones who get the middle get the prime minister’s seat,” said Kasper Hansen, a politics professor at the University of Copenhagen.
The new party occupying the political centre is the Moderates, founded by former Liberal Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
The polls indicate his party will win 10 per cent of the votes or 18 seats, a five-fold increase since September – much to the surprise of political analysts.
And Rasmussen, who boasts solid political experience, has refused to pledge support for either bloc ahead of the election.