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C O U N T R Y R E PORT Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. DENMARK ELISABETH BAUER, KAI GLÄSER, JONATHAN TAPPE Liberals and right-wing populists January 2018 losing support www.kas.de/nordische Social democrats come out on top from local elections in Denmark The social democrats (Socialdemokratiet) all municipalities. Several parties and elec- managed to strengthen their position as toral coalitions came out of the election fol- Denmark´s strongest political force as lowing the big four parties such as the red- expected during local elections. Both Lib- green Unitylist (Enhedslisten) who con- erals (Venstre) and the nationalist Danish vinced six percent of the electorate or the party of the people (Dansk Folkeparti) left-wing liberal party Radikale Venstre who saw their electorate shrink. attracted 4.5% of the votes. By securing 32.4% of the vote, the social- Regional differences apparent for all polit- democrats were able to increase the result ical forces by three percentage points in comparison to the last election in 2013 and remain the Considering the regional proportions of the strongest political party on the local level. electoral results, wide differences appear Big cities, including Copenhagen, and its along party lines. While the social- surroundings proofed as the party´s democrats showed strong results in the Co- stronghold delivering the most votes. The penhagen area, the island of Fünen, and the capital also re-elected its social-democratic northern and eastern part of continental major Frank Jensen. In contrast the liberal Denmark, the liberals secured Westland and Venstre party by Prime Minister Løkke Ras- Südjütland. The conservatives swept several mussen had to relinquish three percent of electoral districts in Seeland and remained its vote leaving them with 23.1%. Never- the most powerful political force in the theless, the head of government labelled northern region of Vesthimmerland, despite the result satisfactory. heavy losses. The socialist People´s party (Socialistik Folkeparti) increased their vote Nationalists lose their position as the count eight times and finished first on the third biggest party Langeland island in southern Denmark. However, on the national level they only Both the conservatives (Det Konservative received 5.7% of the votes. On the Island Folkeparti) and the nationalist-leaning Dan- Seeland several local electoral coalitions ish People´s Party (Dansk Folkeparti) were were able to reach a majority in some mu- far off behind with only 8.8% each. While nicipalities. Overall, 3.2 Million Danes par- the conservatives gained 0.2%, the right- ticipated in the election resulting in a partic- wing populists lost 1.2% of its votes strip- ipation of 70.8%. ping them off their position as the king- dom´s third biggest party. Nevertheless, Conclusions Peter Skaarup, majority leader of the Dan- ish People´s Party in the parliament, drew a As expected, there were no major upsets satisfactory conclusion from the election. during the election, as most gains or losses Although, a better result would have been remained within the margin of one percent- desirable, the election has shown that a sol- age point. While the social-democrats id basis for the party is ingrained in almost gained strength, both the liberals and the 2 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. Danish People´s party had to suffer losses, which however, they labelled as marginal. DENMARK Time in the next weeks will tell whether the ELISABETH BAUER, result will have any impact on Løkke Ras- KAI GLÄSER, mussen´s minority government. Since Sep- JONATHAN TAPPE tember 2016 Rasmussen is leading a coali- tion government between the Liberal and January 2018 the conservative party which is dependent on the People´s Party´s support in the par- www.kas.de/nordische liament. .

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