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Danish election: New government for Denmark as left tops poll

The Local Denmark
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Danish election: New government for Denmark as left tops poll
Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Denmark's left-wing parties have an overall majority following the general election.

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01:16am Thanks for following
 
I am going to call it a night and will be back with you in the morning for all the latest developments after tonight's results.
 
If you want to catch up on tonight's vote, here are some articles that will bring you up to date with all that's happened. Or alternatively you could scroll back through this LIVE blog.
 
'I'm to blame': Denmark's far-right People's Party suffers crushing election losses
 
See you tomorrow.
 
01:06am: What happens next?
 
Talks between party representatives and the Queen will take place tomorrow. This is a formality through which the leader and make-up of the new government will be confirmed.
 
Despite Lars Løkke Rasmussen's bullish comments about continuing to lead government earlier (see 11:49pm), he now sounds like he knows the writing's on the wall.
 
Speaking at DR's post-election party leader debate, the (outgoing?) PM seemed to acknowledge his attempts to form a cross-aisle coalition had hit a brick wall.
 
"I've been given the cold shoulder. I completely recognize that there's a so-called 'red' majority. I understand from Mette Frederiksen that will be used. But it juts out in all different directions," he said, underlining his contention that the smaller parties on Denmark's left will be harder for Frederiksen to work with than his own.
 
"If I'm needed in the negotiations, you all know my number," he adds.
 
00:45am: Final results
 
All the votes have been counted. Here is the result:
 
Social Democrats 25.9 % / 48 seats (+1)
Liberal 23.4 % / 43 seats (+9)
Danish People's Party 8.7 % / 16 seats (-21)
Social Liberal 8.6 % / 16 seats (+8)
Socialist People's Party 7.7 % / 14 seats (+7)
Red Green Alliance 6.9 % / 13 seats (-1)
Conservative 6.6 % / 12 seats (+6)
Alternative 3 % / 5 seats (-4)
New Right 2.4 % / 4 seats (+4)
Liberal Alliance 2.3 % / 4 seats (-9)
Stram Kurs 1.8 % / 0 seats -
Christian Democrats 1.7 % / 0 seats -
Klaus Riskær Pedersen 0.8 % / 0 seats -
 
00:33am: Frederiksen rules out governing with Rasmussen
 
Mette Frederiksen has confirmed she wants to be prime minister and will seek to head a minority Social Democrat government.
 
"We are seeking a purely Social Democrat government," she says.
 
She warmly praised Rasmussen for his time as PM during her speech. Very much in the past tense.
 

Photo: Mette Frederiksen speaks to supporters and press following the election. Photo: Philip Davali / Ritzau Scanpix
 
00:27am: Frederiksen on immigration
 
Frederiksen makes a strong reference to the Social Democrat policy on immigration, and its effect of taking voters from the Danish People’s Party
 
“With regard to foreigners… So many of you Danes have looked me in the eyes during this election campaign and said, ‘thanks’. You have been away from us, but now the Social Democrats have come back,” she says.
 
00:19am: "You have chosen a parliament that must collaborate,” Mette Frederiksen says to Social Democrat supporters.
 
She also calls the election “the first climate election in the history of Denmark”.
 
00:15am: What Rasmussen said
 
"Representatives from the Liberal Party will recommend to the Queen that a government is formed under my continued leadership with the ambition of building a bridge across the centre of Danish politics," the PM -- who is still PM -- said in his speech.
 
We're about to hear from Mette Frederiksen.
 
00:09: More high profile Liberal Alliance parliamentarians fall
 
Joachim B. Olsen -- he of the Pornhub election ad -- and spokesperson for Equality and Children's Affairs Laura Lindahl have both lost their spot in parliament after Liberal Alliance's poor showing. This is due in part to a low vote share in West Jutland, DR writes.
 
00:08am Still plenty of developments to come
 
 
11:58pm Rasmussen wants to continue as government leader
 
In a speech at the Liberal’s election event on Wednesday night, PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen has announced he will go to Queen Margrethe on Thursday morning and inform her that the government will resign, after conservative parties lost their overall majority in the general election.
 
But Rasmussen said he would ask for permission to continue as prime minister at the head of a cross-aisle coalition government.
 
11:55pm: Frederiksen up next
 
I can't wait to hear what Mette Frederiksen has to say to this.
 
11:49pm: BREAKING: Rasmussen wants to continue as PM
 
Lars Løkke Rasmussen is telling supporters he will ask the Queen for permission to continue as prime minister!
 
This will be done via a so-called 'Queen's round' (Dronningerunde), whereby representatives of parties discuss with the Queen the best way to form government. More coming up on this.
 
11:42pm: Rasmussen speaking
 
Lars Løkke Rasmussen is now speaking to raucous Liberal party supporters.
 
11:31pm: No place in parliament for extremists
 
98 percent of votes are counted. Stram Kurs and its contentious leader Rasmus Paludan do not have enough votes to make it into parliament.
 
If I may editorialize briefly here, I believe this is one of the most positive stories of the night for Denmark. Paludan's rhetoric is deeply distasteful -- he burns and desecrates Qurans in front of Muslims under the guise of free speech and regularly insults political opponents and journalists in all manner of derogatory terms. It would have been a major source of angst and anger if he had been a given a platform in parliament to air his inflammatory views.
 
He also wants to ban Islam -- in breach of the constitution -- and deport swathes of non-ethnic Danes from the country.
 
11:28pm: Rasmussen en route to election event
 
Lars Løkke Rasmussen will soon be arriving at his party's election event, where he will give a speech. It's hard to predict what he's going to say -- the PM has shown a talent for throwing curve balls of late.
 
But he will be speaking before Mette Frederiksen speaks to the Social Democrats.
 
11:18pm Social Democrats, Liberals could form parliamentary majority
 
Here's something interesting to consider. Lars Løkke Rasmussen's Liberals have done so well tonight that their mandates combined with the Social Democrats would give the two biggest parties a parliamentary majority. Majority governments are a rarity in Denmark.
 
Could that olive branch from Rasmussen yesterday have legs after all?
 
(Please excuse the mixed metaphors, it's getting late).
 
11:10pm: All over bar the shouting?
 
96.7 percent of votes have now been counted, according to DR. We are now awaiting speeches from Mette Frederiksen and Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and confirmation that Frederiksen will be given permission by the Queen to try to form Denmark's next government.
 
The 'red bloc' looks set to gain 91 mandates (seats), with 75 mandates to the 'blue bloc'.
 
Both Stram Kurs and the Christian Democrats are outside the threshold and the latter party have also failed to gain the strong local vote that could have seen them into parliament by an alternative route.
 
10:59pm: BREAKING: Anders Samuelsen not re-elected to parliament
 
Liberal Alliance party leader and current foreign minister Anders Samuelsen is on his way out of parliament. His party has lost both its mandates in Samuelsen's constituency, North Zealand.
 
10:48pm: Stram Kurs back under threshold
 
This prognosis puts Stram Kurs, who have been straddling the 2 percent threshold to enter parliament all night, back under it.
 
The Social Democrats are down by 0.2 percent on their 2015 share, but should take the prime minister post from the Liberals, despite the latter's strong 2.3 percent growth, according to the prognosis.
 
The Danish People's Party have been well and truly trounced.
 
Meanwhile, the Red Green Alliance are faring markedly worse that the exit poll predicted.
 
 
10:43pm: 85 percent of votes counted
 
They don't hang around at Danish polling stations. We can now see a prognosis from DR based on 84.6 percent of votes counted. It goes like this:
 
Social Democrats 26.1 %
Liberal 23.4 %
Danish People's Party 8.8 %
Social Liberal 8.5 %
Socialist People's Party 7.6 %
Red Green Alliance 6.8 %
Conservative 6.6 %
Alternative 2.9 %
New Right 2.4 %
Liberal Alliance 2.3 %
Stram Kurs 1.8 %
Christian Democrats 1.8 %
Klaus Riskær Pedersen 0.8 %
 
10:34pm Liberals have performed better than in 2015, but will lose election
 
Lars Løkke Rasmussen's Liberal (Venstre) party are set to improve their vote share compared to 2015, but Rasmussen looks destined to lose his job as prime minister, with the other conservative parties -- not least the Danish People's Party -- suffering badly. 
 
But what will Rasmussen, who thrust an olive branch in the direction of his erstwhile rival Mette Frederiksen yesterday, say when he gives his post-election speech to his party later tonight?
 
10:31pm: Left wing in 'comfortable lead'
 
DR is reporting that, with 77 percent of votes counted, the left wing bloc has 90 mandates to 77 on the right -- a 'comfortable' advantage.
 
10:27pm: Fringe parties hovering around threshold
 
With 60 percent of votes now counted, TV2 has just released a new prognosis, based on the count and their original exit poll. TV2 has Stram Kurs outside the threshold, with New Right on 4 mandates and the Christian Democrats on 3 mandates.
 
10:10pm: Election events
 
Here are some images from around the various parties' election night events:
 
The Red Green Alliance's party in Vesterbro. Photo: Claus Bech / Ritzau Scanpix
 

Kristian Thulesen Dahl's Danish People's Party are set to lose over half of their vote share. Photo: Philip Davali / Ritzau Scanpix
 

Isabella Arendt of the Christian Democrats. Photo: Keld Navntoft / Ritzau Scanpix
 
10:01pm: Game over for Riskær
 
Klaus Riskær Pedersen's eponymous party are not going to get enough votes to enter parliament. Riskær has told Danish radio it is 'game over' for him in Danish politics and has since confirmed to Ritzau that he will disband his party.
 
 
9:55pm: Danish election in Uganda
 
Here's how they're following the election results at the Danish embassy in in Kampala, Uganda.
 
 
9:43pm: Here's a graphic of the 10 percent prognosis
 
 
9:36pm: Still a majority for the left
 
The 'red bloc' of traditionally-allied parties to the left of centre still stands to win 95 mandates, compared to 74 in the 'blue' bloc of conservative and right-of centre parties. So Mette Frederiksen can still expect to take over as prime minister.
 
 
 
9:34pm: Red Green Alliance drops back
 
The left wing Red Green Alliance are now at a projected 6.9 percent, compared to 8.8 percent in the exit poll.
 
9:26pm: Stram Kurs and New Right on course for parliament, according to 10 percent prognosis
 
The prognosis switches the fortunes of the fringe parties battling to get into parliament by gaining the required 2 percent vote share. The New Right are looking comfortable at 2.5 percent and Stram Kurs have hit the magic 2 percent. More on them here.
 
A number of rural areas showed up to 6 percent of vote shares for the extremist anti-Islam Stram Kurs, DR is reporting. This fits with the improved outlook for them in the prognosis.
 
Meanwhile, the Christian Democrats have dropped down to 1.9 percent. But they could still reach parliament via a different route.
 
9:24pm: Prognosis is good news for newcomers
 
DR’s first prognosis is in, based on a combination of the exit poll and the just over 10 percent of votes which have now been counted.
 
Here are the numbers:
 
Social Democrats 26.6 %
Liberal 22.5 %
Danish People's Party 9.3 %
Social Liberal 8.4 %
Socialist People's Party 7.3 %
Red Green Alliance 6.9 %
Conservative 6.2 %
Alternative 3.1 %
New Right 2.5 %
Liberal Alliance 2.4 %
Stram Kurs 2 %
Christian Democrats 1.9 %
Klaus Riskær Pedersen 0.7 %
 
9:18pm: Result prognosis upcoming
 
9:02pm: Emotional New Right leader Vermund speaks to supporters
 
"This is completely crazy," New Right leader Pernille Vermund, who seems close to tears, says at her party's election event. She's also swearing quite a bit.
 
Formed in 2016, New Right, who ran on an anti-immigration, libertarian platform, look set to scrape into parliament.
 
8:59pm: Vote counts moving forward
 
Over three percent of votes have now been counted – 218 out of 1,384 polling stations across the country, DR reports.
 
8:56pm: Social Liberal leader Østergaard thanks rivals
 
"Thanks for a good campaign," tweets Morten Østergaard, leader of the Social Liberals, and namechecks the other party leaders (although he left out Paludan and Conservative leader Søren Pape Poulsen.
 
"Danes have decided the election. We'll sort the rest out later," Østergaard writes.
 
 
8:53pm: High turnout
 
Denmark has a tradition for high turnout in elections, and the 2019 edition seems to be no exception. Here's Copenhagen Municipality congratulating its residents on an 84.29 percent turnout.
 
 
8:45pm: Alternative staying positive
 
The green Alternative party looks likely to lose some of its MPs, with a 3.3 percent vote share forecast in the exit poll. That despite the huge climate focus which has characterized the election.
 
"You know what? We're here! We're still in parliament," leader Uffe Elbæk just told supporters at the party's election event at Christiansborg.
 
8:34pm: Other key takes from the exit polls
  • Social Liberals have doubled their vote share
  • Other left-wing parties have also done well – the Socialist People’s Party and Red Green Alliance are both predicted to beat their 2015 performances
  • Christian Democrats could return to parliament for first time since 2005
8:22pm: Extremist party under threshold, but close
 
New party Stram Kurs -- led by the highly controversial Rasmus Paludan who wants to ban Islam in Denmark -- have 1.8 percent in the exit poll. If that holds true in the final result, they will not make it into parliament, with the threshold for representation at 2 percent.
 
 
8:20pm: Disaster for Danish People's Party
 
The nationalist Danish People's Party (DF) were expecting a tough time tonight, and that is borne out by the exit poll. At 9.8 percent, they will have taken an absolute hammering from voters, losing over half their 2015 share.
 
8:14pm: Mette Frederiksen looks likely to become Denmark's new prime minister
 
The Social Democrats will welcome a result like this. The traditional 'red bloc' of left-of centre parties stand to gain a solid majority over the Lars Løkke Rasmussen-led right, with 90 seats/mandates to 75.
 
 
8:11pm: Plenty to discuss here.
 
There's a lot to talk about here, and I'll try to break down what this exit poll could mean over my next few blog posts. Keep in mind that these are exit polls, and we'll get a firmer prognosis in about an hour.
 
8:10 pm: Here’s the breakdown of the predicted results in DR’s initial exit poll
 
Social Democrats 25.3 %
Liberal 20.9 %
Danish People’s Party 9.8 %
Social Liberal 8.8 %
Red Green Alliance 8.8 %
Socialist People’s Party 7.4 %
Conservative 5.9 %
Alternative 3.3 %
Liberal Alliance 3 %
Christian Democrats 2.3 %
New Right 2 %
Stram Kurs 1.8 %
Klaus Riskær Pedersen 0.7 %
 
 
8:00pm: BREAKING: Red bloc to win Danish election: TV2 exit poll
 
Details to follow shortly
 
7:57pm: Our next post will bring you the initial exit polls. Don't go away!
 
7:56pm: And her rival -- or is that now ally? -- Lars Løkke Rasmussen casting his vote
 
 
7:54pm: Here's a hopeful Mette Frederiksen earlier today
 
 
7:50pm: Not long now
 
It’s been a scorching day here in Copenhagen – 25 degrees Celsius as I cycled through the city earlier this evening. I tanked up for our evening election coverage with an ice cream. Raspberry sorbet and white chocolate, if anyone wants to know.
 
There’s a sense of anticipation here in the Danish capital. Not long now until we find out how accurate predictions are, whose dreams will be crushed and whether we’re about to see a huge shift in the domestic political landscape.
 
 
7:46 pm: These are the important times you need to keep in mind this evening
  • 8pm: polls close
  • 8pm: first exit polls are released by broadcasters TV2 and DR. These are based on interviews with voters shortly after they have left polling booths.
  • 9pm: first result prognosis. An hour after polls close, it will be possible to make a fairly firm indication of the overall outcome.
  • 10pm: final results from constituencies begin to roll in.
  • Midnight: we should have an election result.
 
7:30pm: Welcome to our live blog
 
We're going to keep you covered as results come in here on this live blog.
 
Join the discussions in the comments sections and we may use your quotes in a story.

In the meantime, here are some useful links to get you up to speed with exactly what's happening on a day in which Denmark will -- probably -- either continue with sitting PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen or choose a new direction under the Social Democrats and Mette Frederiksen.

The post election constellation is still hard to predict -- it promises to be an exciting evening.

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Anonymous 2019/06/05 21:24
keep up the good work, I don't use a TV so my english Danish election news is this page and twitter

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