2015 Denmark Parliament Election Thursday June 18,2015

The 2015 Denmark Parliament Election is scheduled to be held on 18 June 2015 to elect the 179 members of the Folketing - Parliament of Denmark

The 179 members of the Folketing are elected in Denmark (175), the Faroe Islands(2) and Greenland(2)

The 175 seats in Denmark consist of 135 seats elected in ten multi-member constituencies by proportional representation, using a modified version of the Sainte - Lague Method and Hare Quota and 40 "top-up" seats, which are allocated to parties in order to address any imbalance in the distribution of the constituency seats

According to the Danish Constitution, the election had to be held no later than 15 September 2015, since the last election was held on 15 September 2011.

On 27 May Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt announced that the elections would be held on 18 June 2015.

 

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt's centre-left Social Democrats will face stiff competition from the centre-right Liberals who want more curbs on immigration and limits on state spending.

The polls suggest the Liberals and their allies will win, which could result in a coalition that includes the eurosceptic Danish People's Party, winner of EU parliamentary elections last year.

A centre-left bloc comprising Helle Thorning-Schmidt's Social Democrats and their supporting parties is about 7-8 percentage points behind a centre-left grouping led by the Liberals, according to the polls.

90 seats are needed for a majority in the parliament

Party Position in the outgoing parliament

Liberals                                                             47
Social Democrats                                              44
Danish People's Party                                        22
Danish Social Liberal Party                                17
Socialist People's Party                                      16
Red-Green Alliance                                           12
Liberal Alliance                                                  09
Conservative People's Party                               08
Union Party(Faroe Islands)                                 01
Social Democratic Party(Faroe Islands)              01
Inuit Community(Greenland)                               01
Forward(Greenland)                                          01
Total                                                                179

Denmark's opposition parties have beaten the ruling coalition

With all mainland votes counted, the centre-right group led by ex-PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen beat Prime Minister  Helle Thorning-Schmidt's centre-left coalition, although her party is the largest.

In a victory speech just before 01:30 local time (23:30 GMT), Mr Rasmussen - who led the country between 2009 and 2011 - said: "Four years ago, we returned the keys to the PM's office. I said that time that they were only a loan."
He said he would push for "control of the flow of refugees".

Danish prime minister concedes defeat and resigns as party leader

Helle Thorning-Schmidt has just resigned, Lars Hinnerskov Eriksen reports. In her resignation speech she said: “Every single day the responsibility has been mine. I stand by the decisions I have made. Also tonight.”
“I was Denmark’s first female prime minister, but I won’t be the last.”

 Thorning-Schmidt's governing Social Democratic Party was the biggest party securing 26.3% of the Vote
The right-wing, anti-immigration Danish People's Party will become the second-largest in parliament securing 21.1% of the vote
Rasmussen's Denmark Liberal Party came third on 19.5%.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen, 51, the leader of the right-wing Venstre Party, is set to become Denmark’s next prime minister

 

The final results were as follows

Red bloc

• The Social Democrats (A) – 47

• Radikale, the Danish Social Liberal party (B) – 8

• Socialist People’s party (F) – 7

• Red-Green Alliance (Ø) – 14

• The Alternative (Å) –9

Blue bloc:

• Venstre (V) – 34

• Danish People’s party (O) – 37

• The Liberal Alliance (I) – 13

• The Conservative People’s party (C) – 6