Frederiksen received nominations from the Social Democrats, the Green Left (SF), the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), the Social Liberal Party (De Radikale) and Alternative, who make up all of the parties in the left-wing 'red' bloc. Together they have 84 seats, six short of the 90 needed for a majority.
Frederiksen plans to form a government with SF and the Social Liberals, with the support of the entire left wing bloc and the non-aligned centrist Moderates, according to a statement posted on the Danish Royal House's website yesterday. Denmark's system works on the basis of a 'negative majority', meaning that a government can be formed if the majority of parliament is not against it.
The Moderates, who hold a crucial 14 seats and therefore have a kingmaker role, have previously stated they will not take part in a government based on support from the Red-Green Alliance or the far-right Danish People's Party.
After meeting with all party leaders, King Frederik "requested acting Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to lead negotiations on the formation of a government with the participation of the socialist Green Left and the Danish Social Liberal Party," the royal court said in the statement.
When a sitting government fails to win an election, Danish traditions usually dictates party leaders meet with the monarch to nominate a representative who will lead negotiations. This is often the leader of the party with the biggest vote share in either the left or right 'bloc', whichever has won the most seats.
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The Social Democrats posted their worst election score since 1903, though they remained Denmark's largest single party with 38 seats in the 179-seat parliament.
Frederiksen formally tendered her coalition government's resignation to King Frederik on Wednesday, telling a televised party leader debate she wanted to try to form a centre-left government.
"The most realistic scenario" would be a coalition with the five parties on the left and the centre-right Moderates, she said.
But it is not certain that the Moderates, led by Foreign Minister Løkke Rasmussen, would agree to that.
"I don't believe that Denmark needs policies aligned with" the leftist Red-Green Alliance, Løkke said.
Red-Green Alliance lead political spokesperson Pelle Dragsted meanwhile said he will “try” to work with the Moderates.
“As Lars Løkke Rasmussen says, there’s a long way from the Red Green Alliance to the Moderates,” Dragsted said.
“But we think it’s our duty to try. Otherwise we risk sending power over to [far-right party leader] Morten Messerschmidt with all the consequences that would have for our international relations and environmental ambitions,” he said.
“I think we owe it to each other to try,” he said.
Dragsted pointed to some areas of consensus between the far-left and centrist parties, including “respect for international conventions” and environmental issues.
However, he noted that a red line for his party would be that “inequality in society doesn’t keep rising.”
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