Frederiksen announced in parliament that elections will be held next month.
"Dear Danes, today I have asked His Majesty the King to call an election for the Folketing [parliament, ed.]," the PM, who has been in office since 2019 told the house.
"You know what is at stake. Whether I will continue to be your prime minister depends on how strong a mandate you give the Social Democrats in the parliamentary election to be held on March 24th, 2026," she added.
Parliamentary elections last took place in Denmark in November 2022 and were required to take place again no later than October this year.
“It will now be up to you, the voters, to decide which direction will be set for Denmark for the next four years, and I am really looking forward to it,” she said.
Frederiksen currently leads a coalition government comprising of the Social Democratic party led by her, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s non-aligned, centrist Moderates and the centre-right Liberals (Venstre), who are traditionally the main rival of the Social Democrats.
The three parties took office as a coalition in 2022, but Frederiksen offered no guarantees the alliance will continue beyond the vote in March.
“Could it be another government spanning the political centre? Yes. Could it be a government based on the left side of parliament? Yes, if it’s manoeuvrable and capable of working with many parties,” she said.
“I’m not ruling anything out in advance. In the times we live in, I will refrain from making non-negotiable demands,” she said.
While Frederiksen is the only clear candidate to lead a left-leaning government, the identity of a potential new Danish prime minister from a conservative party is so far uncertain.
The most obvious candidate, Liberal leader Troels Lund Poulsen, has yet to explicitly announce his intention to become prime minister. Poulsen is currently a senior member of the government as Defence Minister.
Should right-leaning parties gain an overall majority in the March 24th vote, Poulsen would likely need the confidence of Denmark's far-right, including the Danish People's Party and Denmark Democrats, to be able to succeed Frederiksen as PM.
'Bloc politics': A guide to understanding parliamentary elections in Denmark (from 2022)
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