Danish Elections have endorsed the current Centre-Right Coalition
Wednesday, February 9, 2005 Copenhagen – The Danish people have voted to keep the current centre-right political coalition of the Venstre (The Liberal Party), Det Konservative Folkeparti (Conservative People's Party) and the Dansk Folkeparti (Danish People's Party).
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal Party retained the largest number of seats in parliament. The governing coalition between the Liberals and Conservative People's Party remained intact. They will likely be supported largely by the Danish People's Party, which gained 2 seats. The Radikale Venstre (Radical Left) party gained the most seats of any party, although it remains outside the governing group of parties. The election marked the second time in a row that the Social Democrats were not the largest party in the parliament, a change from most of the 20th century. The party lost 5 seats and leader Mogens Lykketoft resigned immediately after the election.
Venstre, the liberal party of the prime minister, campaigned on their municipal restructuring plan, as well as a continuation of the "tax-freeze" and tight immigration requirements. They also promised to see 60,000 jobs created during a second term.
The largest opposition party, the Socialdemokraterne (Social Democrats) led by Mogens Lykketoft focused on employment, which they claim has decreased under the current government.
The Dansk Folkeparti, who support the Venstre-Conservative coalition, criticized the "tax-freeze" but agreed, conditionally, to support it for another parliamentary term. They also wanted increasingly tough immigration restrictions.
Results
Going into the election, the governing coalition had 94 of the 175 seats up for election. (Danish overseas territories designate four additional representatives).
PRELIMINARY NATIONAL SUMMARY ================================================================================ Votes and seats are compared with those won at the elections of November 2001
Party Votes % Change Seats Change -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Centre-Democrats (CD) 33,611 01.0 -00.8 - 00 Danish People's Party (DF) 444,257 13.2 +01.2 24 +02 Unity List-The Red Greens (ERG) 113,687 03.4 +01.0 6 +02 Conservative People's Party (KF) 345,104 10.3 +01.2 19 +03 Christian People's Party (KrF) 57,815 01.7 -00.6 - -04 Radical Left (RV) 307,306 09.2 +04.0 16 +07 Social Democracy in Denmark (SD) 867,857 25.9 -03.2 47 -05 Socialist People's Party (SF) 201,224 06.0 -00.4 11 -01 Left, Liberal Party of Denmark (VDLP) 974,700 29.1 -02.1 52 -04 Others 8,672 00.3 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 3,354,233 175 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
- Wikipedia:The Danish parliamentary election, 2005
- "Fogh går til dronningen kl. 11" — DR, February 9, 2005 (in Danish)
- "Danish centre-right win new term" — BBC News, February 9, 2005
