Last Week in Denmark (30.10 - 06.11) Episode 38 Year 2
A center government; Red Majority; Delay your energy payment
Editor HQ
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Are you curious to see a live talk show in English about the Danish election results? Check out the one made by our executive editor together with Miguel Oliveira and Tijana Vujadinovic.
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Danish Politics HQ
The “red” parties have won the Danish parliamentary elections, by obtaining 90 out of the 179 seats in the Folketinget. It was a very close election decided by a few hundred votes and by the so-called North Atlantic seats (the 2 seats from Greenland and 2 from the Faroe Islands). Despite being able to continue as a prime minister, Mette Frederiksen is in favor of a new government with Lars Løkke’s Moderaterne, Venstre and Radikale Venstre. A center government with both red and blue parties.
The attempt to build a center government with red and blue parties has been tried only once in history. In 1978 it survived for 1 year and 57 days.
The Queen has appointed Mette Frederiksen as a royal negotiator to try to form a government. Predictions say that it can take up to two weeks before we can see a new government.
On Friday, all the party leaders were invited for negotiations with Mette Frederiksen. Inger Støjberg already announced that her party will not be invited again for negotiations. Pernille Vermund said that Nye Borgerlige had to reschedule the meeting.
84,1% voter presence: The lowest in more than 30 years. Since 2011, voter turnout has been dropping. Why? It seems that the lines between the “red” and “blue” parties have become blurry and for some people, this means they cannot see the difference anymore.
44% of the elected MPs are women: A record number of women have been elected to the Danish Parliament (79 out of 179). In the past 20 years, the percentages fluctuated between 36% and 39%.
Conclusions from the parliamentary elections
Socialdemokratiet had the best election result since 2001. They got 50 seats out of 179. Mette Frederiksen got 60.837 personal votes in North Denmark (her home) and defeated Inger Støjberg’s attempt to take her title as “Queen of the North”.
Moderaterne did not become the kingmakers, as the “red” parties obtained a majority without needing their mandates. However, Mette Frederiksen is still willing to make a government with them, however coming from a much stronger position. Lars Løkke attempted to convince one of the Greenlandic mandates to consider pointing towards a potential “blue” government but failed. They got 16 seats.
Venstre got the worst election result in 34 years. The fact that two former leaders of Venstre started their own parties in the past year, affected the party to the core. Jakob Ellemann-Jensen will not become prime minister and now he is willing to consider a government with Mette Frederiksen as prime minister. They got 23 seats (and lost 20 compared to 2019).
Konservative got even worse election results compared to 2019 (which was terrible for them). Søren Pape gave up on his hopes to become prime minister and will focus on the reconstruction of the party. They got 10 seats. (2 fewer compared to 2019)
Radikale Venstre paid the ultimate price for triggering the elections earlier than expected. They lost more than half of their voters and were left with just 7 seats in the Parliament. Sofie Carsten Nielsen resigned from the position of leader. They lost 10 seats compared to 2019. Martin Lidegaard is the new leader with Samira Nawa as the vice leader. The new political line means “no more ultimatums”.
Liberal Alliance has become the “cool” party among young people and that has benefited them greatly. From a party in ruins (after the 2019 elections) they rose up like a Phoenix and became the third largest party in the blue block. They went from 4 seats in 2019 to 14. Alex Vanopslagh has become something similar to a pop star.
Danmarks Demokraterne has officially become the second largest “blue” party and the biggest right-wing anti-immigration party. After being dismissed from Folketinget (less than 10 months ago) due to criminal charges, Inger Støjberg returned with 13 seats. A strange situation for Danish politics.
DF got their worst result ever. However, they survived (passed the 2% line) and got 5 seats in the Danish Parliament. The party that has made for decades the life of internationals in Denmark harder lost their weight and influence.
Alternativet got saved in the last minute and made a big comeback in the Folketinget. Not only did they pass the 2% line, they actually obtained 6 seats. They will continue on their journey to become recognized as the green party of Denmark.
The five government scenarios:
A union government (Socialdemokratiet, Venstre, Konservative, SF and Radikale Venstre) with a majority of 105 mandates. These five parties have reached a “national compromise” before with regards to defense spending. However, Konservative are against joining a government led by Mette Frederiksen.
A red-blue government (Socialdemokratiet, Venstre, Moderaterne and Radikale Venstre) with a majority of 96 mandates. All four parties want a broad government over the middle so it is one of the most likely scenarios. However, Venstre is still on the fence as by joining the government, they would lose the status as leaders of the opposition.
A red-purple government (Socialdemokratiet, SF, Radikale Venstre, Moderaterne and the North-Atlantic mandates) with a majority of 91 mandates.
A red government (Socialdemokratiet, SF, Radikale Venstre, Enhedslisten, Alternativet and the North-Atlantic mandates) with a majority of 90 mandates.
A blue government (Venstre, Konservative, Liberal Alliance, DF, Nye Borgerlige, Danmarksdemokraterne + Moderaterne and Radikale Venstre) with a majority of 95 mandates. This would happen only if Radikale Venstre switches from the red block. If that happens, we would have a new prime minister. This would be political suicide for both Moderaterne and Radikale Venstre, as they would have to govern with their nemesis parties from the far-right.
Or new elections. In 2019, it took 20 days for Mette Frederiksen to form the government. Now it could take at least a month.
Danish Economy HQ
Delay the payment for electricity and heat: From the 1st of November, you can apply here to freeze a part of the payment you need to make for electricity and gas. It will also be possible to delay part of the payment for the district heating bill from the 1st of January 2023. The schemes provide the opportunity to freeze part of the energy bill, and later repay the loan to the energy company over several years.
Work from home is back: This time due to the energy crisis. Several municipalities have decided that public employees should work from home on Fridays, to save on electricity and heat costs.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
The bishops in the Danish church have decided: Female priests should no longer be discriminated against because of their gender. The Church Minister accepted the letter of intent from the bishops and said that after the elections, it will be proposed to eliminate the paragraph in the Equal Treatment Act that exempts the employment of priests. 75 years ago, Denmark had its first women priest.
The hacking attack on our train system: Last Saturday, the entire train system in Denmark was paralyzed due to a security flaw in a critical app for operations. Without the app, the locomotive drivers would have had to drive blind. The app is called “The digital backpack 2” and it is run by the IT company Supeo.
252 new words in the Danish dictionary: The Danish dictionary has been digital for 12 years and it provides an unlimited space for new words. From time to time, new words are added while others change meaning (12 words this time). Among the words, there is also a word used a lot during the elections, “Magtfulkommenhed” which means absolute power.
Windshields on the Storebæltsbroen: From now until February 2023, the company that designed the bridge will install windshields, to reduce the number of accidents caused by wind.
Sport with Jelimir Vlastici
The European Women’s Handball Championship will take place between the 4 and the 20 November. This year 3 countries will be co-hosting the tournament: Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro. Denmark opened the competition on Friday against Slovenia, but didn't manage to uphold the lead gained in the first half (15-14), losing in the end with the score 26-28. The next 2 games in the group stage will be on Sunday, November 6, against Serbia and Tuesday, November 8, against Sweden. The top three teams in each group will advance further in the tournament.
Announcement Board
Jobs for Internationals: Did you know that International House North Denmark gathers the job announcements for Internationals and publishes a curated list every Monday on their social media channels? The only detail is that the focus is on jobs in Northern Denmark.
Buying Real Estate in Denmark: Take the first step on your path to buying a new home in Denmark with information about the buying process, taxation, mortgages, insurance, etc. Where? Copenhagen. When? The 1st of December at 17:00. Register here.
Nota Bene! We introduced a new category called “Announcement Board” where we include events / opportunities specific for the International Community. Should we include something in here? Give us a message.