Denmark elects: The political news from the third week of the election campaign
With a little over a week to go until voters choose a new Danish government, what have the key political talking points been over the last seven days?
If you want to read about the first two weeks of campaigning since Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced the election earlier this month, click here and here.
Even in the middle of a robust election season, Danish politics can feel incredibly stable and sensible compared to other countries. But it is not without provocations.
One such moment came on Monday last week when the far-right Nye Borgerlige party was accused of antisemitism and homophobia after one of its lawmakers appeared to say it is acceptable to refuse help from home carers if they are Jewish or gay.
The party’s leadership denied it supports discrimination in the care sector, with leader Pernille Vermund subsequently saying the far-right party “has not proposed Jewish and homosexual people should be kept out of home social care”, but that elderly people should always be able to decide who they allow into their home.
That came after other politicians, including PM Frederiksen, moved to distance themselves from Ny Borgerlige for the original remarks.
An economic “2030 plan” presented by the Conservative party ahead of the election will not result in public sector staff losing their jobs, party leader Søren Pape Poulsen said in a TV interview on Wednesday.
The party wants to “effectivise” the public sector and thereby save 17.8 billion kroner, according to the plan.
“This doesn’t need to mean fewer staff. We have a growth in our plan of 0.13 percent. So it’s clear that there may be some people who must do something else. No one will be fired,” Poulsen said.
The Liberal (Venstre) party meanwhile wants to place 5,000 public sector jobs outside of Copenhagen to boost rural areas.
“We know that we want to improve the tax service and we know that there will be jobs in the strengthening of the military, which the Liberals have fought hard for,” the party’s parliamentary spokesperson Thomas Danielsen said in a statement.
The Danish People’s Party (DF) wants pets to be allowed in elderly care homes. The party also wants all homes to have their own kitchens to give residents a bigger say in what they eat.
Elderly care is an important topic for DF because it is prioritised highly by the party’s voter base, which is weighted towards older age groups. Another measure proposed by the party is the introduction of a whistleblower system through which residents and relatives can raise concerns.
Elderly care home standards have been one of the most-debated topics of the week after broadcaster TV2 aired a documentary revealing shocking conditions at a home in the town of Køge. The government has faced criticism for not doing enough to ensure standards in the sector.
Four left-leaning or left-wing parties – the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), Socialist People’s Party (SF), Red Green Alliance and Alternative – issued a joint statement in which they demanded that 30 percent of the area of Denmark should be protected natural land.
The four parties say they will make the demand of the government after the election – regardless of who is in power.
“There must be less agriculture in the future and there must be more nature. That is good for nature, but essentially also good for the environment,” SF leader Pia Olsen Dyhr said.
Media Frihedsbrevet caused a stir on Friday when it published the results of an investigation in which one of its staff, posing as an anonymous donor, called around political parties offering a donation of 50,000 kroner on the condition that it remained anonymous.
Danish electoral rules require donations over 22,000 kroner to be made public.
Representatives from five parties – the Social Democrats, SF, DF and Nye Borgerlige, along with the Christian Democrats, who are currently outside of parliament – suggested ways by which the rules might be skirted in calls with Frihedsbrevet’s undercover donor.
While party head offices all rejected the approaches, local representatives, treasurers and in one case an MP – Nye Borgerlige's Mette Thiesen, who was also behind the controversial elderly care comment recounted at the top of this article – seemed more amenable to the approach.
In the polls, the biggest movers were former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s Moderate party, who now look in with a chance of being the third-largest party in parliament.
Rasmussen says he wants to govern with traditional rival the Social Democrats. But a knife-edge election has the potential to give him less influence on the outcome than he perhaps is hoping for.
DF appears to be teetering on the brink of obscurity, with polls placing it around the 2 percent vote share threshold needed to enter parliament.
Frederiksen’s Social Democrats are now polling at 25 percent, maintaining an approximately level vote share since the election was announced.
Did we miss any major election stories out? Is there anything specific related to the election you’d like us to focus on? Let me know.
READ ALSO: The Danish vocabulary you’ll need to follow the election
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See Also
If you want to read about the first two weeks of campaigning since Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced the election earlier this month, click here and here.
Even in the middle of a robust election season, Danish politics can feel incredibly stable and sensible compared to other countries. But it is not without provocations.
One such moment came on Monday last week when the far-right Nye Borgerlige party was accused of antisemitism and homophobia after one of its lawmakers appeared to say it is acceptable to refuse help from home carers if they are Jewish or gay.
The party’s leadership denied it supports discrimination in the care sector, with leader Pernille Vermund subsequently saying the far-right party “has not proposed Jewish and homosexual people should be kept out of home social care”, but that elderly people should always be able to decide who they allow into their home.
That came after other politicians, including PM Frederiksen, moved to distance themselves from Ny Borgerlige for the original remarks.
An economic “2030 plan” presented by the Conservative party ahead of the election will not result in public sector staff losing their jobs, party leader Søren Pape Poulsen said in a TV interview on Wednesday.
The party wants to “effectivise” the public sector and thereby save 17.8 billion kroner, according to the plan.
“This doesn’t need to mean fewer staff. We have a growth in our plan of 0.13 percent. So it’s clear that there may be some people who must do something else. No one will be fired,” Poulsen said.
The Liberal (Venstre) party meanwhile wants to place 5,000 public sector jobs outside of Copenhagen to boost rural areas.
“We know that we want to improve the tax service and we know that there will be jobs in the strengthening of the military, which the Liberals have fought hard for,” the party’s parliamentary spokesperson Thomas Danielsen said in a statement.
The Danish People’s Party (DF) wants pets to be allowed in elderly care homes. The party also wants all homes to have their own kitchens to give residents a bigger say in what they eat.
Elderly care is an important topic for DF because it is prioritised highly by the party’s voter base, which is weighted towards older age groups. Another measure proposed by the party is the introduction of a whistleblower system through which residents and relatives can raise concerns.
Elderly care home standards have been one of the most-debated topics of the week after broadcaster TV2 aired a documentary revealing shocking conditions at a home in the town of Køge. The government has faced criticism for not doing enough to ensure standards in the sector.
Four left-leaning or left-wing parties – the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), Socialist People’s Party (SF), Red Green Alliance and Alternative – issued a joint statement in which they demanded that 30 percent of the area of Denmark should be protected natural land.
The four parties say they will make the demand of the government after the election – regardless of who is in power.
“There must be less agriculture in the future and there must be more nature. That is good for nature, but essentially also good for the environment,” SF leader Pia Olsen Dyhr said.
Media Frihedsbrevet caused a stir on Friday when it published the results of an investigation in which one of its staff, posing as an anonymous donor, called around political parties offering a donation of 50,000 kroner on the condition that it remained anonymous.
Danish electoral rules require donations over 22,000 kroner to be made public.
Representatives from five parties – the Social Democrats, SF, DF and Nye Borgerlige, along with the Christian Democrats, who are currently outside of parliament – suggested ways by which the rules might be skirted in calls with Frihedsbrevet’s undercover donor.
While party head offices all rejected the approaches, local representatives, treasurers and in one case an MP – Nye Borgerlige's Mette Thiesen, who was also behind the controversial elderly care comment recounted at the top of this article – seemed more amenable to the approach.
In the polls, the biggest movers were former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s Moderate party, who now look in with a chance of being the third-largest party in parliament.
Rasmussen says he wants to govern with traditional rival the Social Democrats. But a knife-edge election has the potential to give him less influence on the outcome than he perhaps is hoping for.
DF appears to be teetering on the brink of obscurity, with polls placing it around the 2 percent vote share threshold needed to enter parliament.
Frederiksen’s Social Democrats are now polling at 25 percent, maintaining an approximately level vote share since the election was announced.
Did we miss any major election stories out? Is there anything specific related to the election you’d like us to focus on? Let me know.
READ ALSO: The Danish vocabulary you’ll need to follow the election
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