August M
Denmark’s ruling party is confronting its most dramatic electoral rebuke in generations.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen acknowledged on Wednesday that the decline in support was “greater than we had expected” after the centre-left party suffered sweeping defeats in municipal and regional elections helt Tuesday, The Guardian notes.
Nationally, the Social Democrats fell from 28.4% in 2021 to just 23.2%, while the far-right Danish People’s Party saw a slight rise from 4.09% to 5.9%.
In Copenhagen, Frederiksen’s close political ally Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil — widely understood to have been handpicked to succeed as lord mayor — failed to secure enough support.
The post will instead go to Sisse Marie Welling of the Green Left (SF), which won 17.9% of votes.
Changing political landscape
The Red–Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) maintained its position as the capital’s largest party with 22.1%.
The Social Democrats became the third-largest party with 12,7 % of the votes, down 4,5 % since the last municipal elections four years ago.
Mette Frederiksen pointed to inflationary pressures, especially rising food prices, as well as what she described as disparities between rural and urban areas, when reflecting on the reasons for the results.
The prime minister also referenced crime by “people coming from outside”, underscoring her government’s firm stance on immigration.
Losses in traditional strongholds
Danish TV 2 News reports that the defeats extended beyond Copenhagen, including setbacks in historically reliable municipalities such as Fredericia, Holstebro, Skive, and Frederikshavn.
For the first time since the municipal system was introduced in 1938, the capital will not have a Social Democrat leader — a symbolic break with a century of dominance.
Rosenkrantz-Theil, whose party tally dropped from 17.2% in 2021 to 12.7%, conceded on Wednesday morning.
“I gave it the chance we needed,” she said, adding that she had “taken a big risk” in pursuing a role she felt she was “not invited and wasn’t allowed in”.
Coalition forms without Social Democrats
According to Danish TV 2, shortly after it became clear that Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil had lost the race for lord mayor, she said she had “not taken part in so much as half an hour of negotiations.”
Her comments highlighted the speed with which the post-election landscape shifted around the Social Democrats, who suddenly found themselves isolated in their former stronghold.
Sources. TV2 News – The Guardian
This article is made and published by August M, who may have used AI in the preparation
