Danish parliamentary election, 2007
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The 66th Folketing election in Denmark was held on November 13, 2007.[1][2] The election allowed prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to continue for a third term in a coalition government consisting of the Liberals and the Conservative People's Party with parliamentary support from the Danish People's Party.[3]
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[edit] Election results
| Parties | Leaders | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark | |||||
| Liberals (Venstre) (V) | Anders Fogh Rasmussen | 908,472 | 26.2% | 46 | –6 |
| Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) (A) | Helle Thorning-Schmidt | 881,037 | 25.5% | 45 | –2 |
| Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti) (O) | Pia Kjærsgaard | 479,532 | 13.9% | 25 | +1 |
| Socialist People's Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti) (F) | Villy Søvndal | 450,975 | 13.0% | 23 | +12 |
| Conservative People's Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti) (C) | Bendt Bendtsen | 359,404 | 10.4% | 18 | ±0 |
| Social Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre) (B) | Søren Bald | 177,161 | 5.1% | 9 | –8 |
| New Alliance (Ny Alliance) (Y) | Naser Khader | 97,295 | 2.8% | 5 | +5 |
| Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) (Ø) | Collective leadership | 74,982 | 2.2% | 4 | –2 |
| Christian Democrats (Kristendemokraterne) (K) | Bodil Kornbek | 30,013 | 0.9% | 0 | ±0 |
| Candidates without parties | 543 | 0.0% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Subtotal | 3,458,847 | 100.0% | 175 | — | |
| Faroe Islands | |||||
| Republican Party (Tjóðveldi) (E) | Høgni Hoydal | 5,949 | 25.4 | 1 | ±0.0 % |
| Union Party (Sambandsflokkurin) (B) | Kaj Leo Johannesen | 5,413 | 23.5 | 1 | +2.1 % |
| People's Party (Fólkaflokkurin) (A) | Jørgen Niclasen | 4,726 | 20.5 | 0 | -3.6 % |
| Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) (C) | Jóannes Eidesgaard | 4,702 | 20.4 | 0 | -1.8 % |
| Centre Party (Miðflokkurin) (H) | Álvur Kirke | 1,577 | 6.8 | 0 | +3.5 % |
| Self-Government Party (Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) (D) | Kári P. Højgaard | 797 | 3.5 | 0 | +1.1 % |
| Subtotal | 2 | ||||
| Greenland | |||||
| Inuit Community (Inuit Ataqatigiit) | Josef Motzfeldt | 7,107 | 1 | ||
| Forward (Siumut) | Hans Enoksen | 6,658 | 1 | ||
| Feeling of Community (Atassut) | Finn Karlsen | 4,004 | 0 | ||
| Democrats (Demokraatit) | Per Berthelsen | 3,436 | 0 | ||
| Subtotal | 2 | ||||
| Total (Turnout: 86.6 %) | 179 | ||||
The Socialist People's Party had the election's largest gain, securing 23 seats in the new parliament compared to 11 in the 2005 elections. The Danish People's Party gained one additional seat, leaving it at 25. The New Alliance secured five seats in its first election, a result lower than projected in earlier opinion polls.
The biggest setback was suffered by the Danish Social Liberal Party which was reduced from 17 seats to 9. The Liberals lost six seats leaving it at 46, and the party remains the biggest party for the third consecutive election. The Social Democrats lost two seats, leaving it at 45. The Red-Green Alliance lost two seats leaving it at four seats, just above the 2% threshold.
The Conservative People's Party ensured marginal gains, but no additional seats, leaving it at 18 seats. The Christian Democrats did not ensure representation.
Greenland's vote resulted in one seat for Siumut and one for Inuit Ataqatigiit. The Faroe Islands returned Høgni Hoydal representing the Republican Party, its second seat went to the Union Party, a seat gained from the People's Party which did not achieve representation.
[edit] Rasmussen cabinet continues
The Danish parliament has a total of 179 seats, four of which are reserved for Denmark's overseas territories, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, and the system of government requires that a cabinet is not opposed by a majority in parliament, a system referred to in Denmark as "negative parliamentarism". The governing Liberal-Conservative coalition secured 64 seats which combined with the 25 seats belonging to its parliamentary support, the Danish People's Party (DPP), secured it 89 seats, one seat short of the desired majority. The missing seat was secured by the Faroese election of former Faroese prime minister Edmund Joensen (Union Party) who supports the existing cabinet.
The parties backing Helle Thorning-Schmidt secured a total of 84 seats, including the additional three North Atlantic seats. The remaining five seats went to the New Alliance party. Prime minister Rasmussen has announced that his cabinet continues, but that parties backing his premiership will be able to influence the politics of the new cabinet. Rasmussen's statement was aimed at the New Alliance party, but it remains to be seen to which extent it will be possible for Rasmussen to balance the interests and desires of the Danish People Party and the New Alliance Party. The New Alliance was partly set up in order to oppose the influence of the Danish People's Party.
Having secured support of 90 MPs excluding the New Alliance party, Rasmussen has the option to base policy exclusively on the DPP. However, Edmund Joensen has said that he will not vote in matters related to internal affairs of Denmark, and this may increase the influence of New Alliance.[4] However, Joensen has publicly stated that he will never abstain from voting if it jeopardizes the government.
As after the last election, where Rasmussen also secured continuing power, there were some shuffling of minister posts in the cabinet. The resulting Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen III was presented a few days after the election.
[edit] Central themes in the election
Several topics have been mentioned as central to the election. These include welfare, taxes, immigration, and the health system.[5] The election also clears the Rasmussen government from having a potentially unpopular parliamentary debate on the European Union Treaty of Lisbon[6], as it will become a topic in the election instead.[7]
[edit] Coalitions
According to the Constitution of Denmark, Denmark is governed according to the principle of negative parliamentarism, meaning that while a government doesn't need the majority of seats in parliament, it must never have a majority of seats against it in a vote of no confidence. Before the ongoing elections, this was relevant since the government, consisting of the Conservative People's Party and the Liberals did not have a majority of seats, but depended on the support of the Danish People's Party. Early opinion polls showed that neither a right-wing or a left-wing government could gather enough seats to be in government without the support of the newly established New Alliance.[8][9] This caused a lot of interest, since New Alliance had stated that they will first give the current government the opportunity to propose a programme for government, but that they would not definitely support a right-wing government prior to seeing how many of their political agendas they could work together on.[10] Many people were unsure how this would be possible, since New Alliance was originally formed to limit the influence of the Danish People's Party, without whom a right-wing government did not seem possible in opinion polls.[11][12][13] After the elections, however, it was clear that New Alliance did not get enough seats in parliament to break the previous right-wing majority.[3]
[edit] The opposition
Shortly after the elections were called, the Social Liberal Party stated that they supported a government led by the Social Democrats.[14] The Red-Green Alliance support a left-wing government almost by default.[15] The Socialist People's Party also support a left-wing government, and have stated that they wish to not only support such a government but to be a part of it.[16] In spite of a dramatic increase in support of the Socialist People's Party in opinion polls, these four parties never stood to get enough seats in parliament to head a government.[8][9] Consequently, prior to the election, Helle Thorning-Schmidt (the leader of the Social Democrats) invited both New Alliance and the Conservative People's Party to participate in a centre-left government, but both parties have refused.[17][18]
[edit] Early election
Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced this election date on October 24, 2007. The election was held ahead of time in the sense that by law, the election needed to be held before February 8, 2009, four years after the previous election.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen explained that the elections were called early in order to allow the parliament to work on important upcoming topics without being distracted by a future election. Referring specifically to welfare reform, he said rival parties would then try to outdo each other with expensive reforms which would damage the Danish economy.[2]
[edit] Parties that had previously declared their intention to run
The Centre Democrats lacked about 2,000 - 3,000 of the required 20,000 signatures in order to run in the 2007 election when Anders Fogh Rasmussen called it on October 24, meaning that they won't be able to run.[19] The Liberalists had reached 5,000 signatures.[20] The Danish Ministry of Welfare has registered more than 70 parties that had not handed in the required number of signatures.[21]
[edit] References
- ^ "Danish Premier Calls Early Elections", Associated Press, 2007-10-24.
- ^ a b "Fogh: Luften skal renses med valg", Politiken, 2007-10-24. Retrieved on 2007-10-24. (Danish)
- ^ a b "Færøerne sikrer Fogh nyt VKO-flertal", Politiken, 2007-11-14. Retrieved on 2007-11-14. (Danish)
- ^ "Færing stemmer ikke indenrigspolitisk", Politiken, 2007-11-14. Retrieved on 2007-11-14. (Danish)
- ^ "Valgets hovedtemaer er klar", Politiken, 2007-10-24. Retrieved on 2007-10-24. (Danish)
- ^ "Rasmussen Calls Early Danish Election for Nov. 13", Bloomberg, 2007-10-24.
- ^ "Moving the Majority", The Copenhagen Post, 2007-10-26.
- ^ a b Opinion (Danish). TV 2 (2007-10-25). Retrieved on 2007-10-25.
- ^ a b Opinion. Politiken (2007-10-24). Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
- ^ "Ny Alliance udelukker at pege på Fogh inden valget", Politiken, 2007-10-28. Retrieved on 2007-10-30. (Danish)
- ^ "Pia K. forudser nyvalg om et halvt år", Politiken, 2007-10-25. Retrieved on 2007-10-30. (Danish)
- ^ Den ustabile koalition med DF og NA. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
- ^ Fogh hæmmes af bred koalition. TV 2. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
- ^ "R peger på Helle Thorning", Politiken, 2007-10-24. Retrieved on 2007-10-30. (Danish)
- ^ "EL peger på Helle Thorning-Schmidt", Politiken, 2007-10-26. Retrieved on 2007-10-30. (Danish)
- ^ "Søvndal: »Der skal bare flyttes fem mandater«", Politiken, 2007-10-25. Retrieved on 2007-10-30. (Danish)
- ^ "Khader: Vi er ikke til fals for ministerposter", Politiken, 2007-10-29. Retrieved on 2007-10-30. (Danish)
- ^ "Thorning bejler til de konservative", Politiken, 2007-10-28. Retrieved on 2007-10-30. (Danish)
- ^ "CD ude af valgkampen på forhånd", Politiken, 2007-10-24. Retrieved on 2007-10-24. (Danish)
- ^ "Liberalister når ikke at opstille", TV 2, 2007-10-24. Retrieved on 2007-10-24. (Danish)
- ^ Lists of other registered parties (Danish). Danish Ministry of the Interior and Health (2007-10-04). Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
[edit] Navigation
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Parties running in Denmark proper |
Parties running in the Faroe Islands |
Parties running in Greenland |
| Candidates for Prime Minister: Fogh Rasmussen • Thorning-Schmidt | ||
| Other notable candidates: Barfod • Bendtsen • Khader • Kjærsgaard • Kornbek • Søvndal • Vestager | ||
| Ministry of Welfare: Parties eligible to run in Danish parliamentary elections | ||
