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EUROPEAN UNION

‘He looks like a man who slept in his car’: What is the Danish media saying about Boris Johnson?

Boris Johnson will be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after his victory in the Conservative Party leadership contest was confirmed on Tuesday.

'He looks like a man who slept in his car': What is the Danish media saying about Boris Johnson?
Boris Johnson is likely to become the next British PM. Photo: Niklas Hallen / AFP / Ritzau Scanpix

Johnson had long been the firm favourite to win the Tory leadership race ahead of Jeremy Hunt, and will take over as the head of the UK's government on Wednesday.

He faces an awkward relationship with Europe – and not just because he reportedly called the French “turds” over Brexit.

As Johnson prepares to enter 10 Downing Street, Danish commentators have noted the apparent dead-end British politics finds itself in regarding the EU withdrawal and commented on whether Johnson is capable of resolving it.

The former London mayor has promised to seek a new deal with the EU or leave without an agreement on October 31st, the current scheduled withdrawal date, in what would be a ‘no-deal' Brexit.

But the British parliament has so far refused to countenance that scenario, and has on three occasions rejected a withdrawal deal reached between outgoing PM Theresa May and the EU.

Johnson claims he can land a new deal which can pass parliament, but the EU has consistently said the agreement is final and cannot be reopened for further negotiations.

“The deadlocked situation in parliament means that Johnson could easily be forced to call a new election as soon as next year. He must therefore simultaneously prepare brinkmanship negotiations with (the UK’s) by-far most important trade partner [the EU, ed.], fight a seething opposition inside and outside of his party and also prepare an election campaign,” writes Politiken’s EU correspondent Nilas Heinskou.

“With Boris Johnson at the helm, British politics could, incredibly, become even more unpredictable and chaotic,” Heinskou writes.

Danish public service broadcaster DR, in an article published earlier this month, described Johnson as a politician who “very much splits opinion”.

“The politician with the yellow haystack on his head has made enough gaffes throughout his career for newspapers to make list articles about it,” DR writes.

The broadcaster’s political analyst Kim Bildsøe noted Johnson’s skill with rhetoric in a country deeply split over Brexit.

“When you look at where the British are right now, I think they need someone who can tell that story [about what Brexit is supposed to achieve, ed.]. There are so many other things that seem hopeless and difficult,” Bildsøe said.

As such, he has made Brexit his selling point, despite there being “large holes” in his plan, DR writes.

“Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan has a lot of things, but detail is not one of them,” Bildsøe said.

Conservative daily Berlingske published on Monday evening an article which focused on last week’s reports that a meeting between a Johnson representative and the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier had gone “worse than even the worst of expectations.”

In the article, which also rounds up British reports on the incoming PM’s career and personal life, the newspaper’s foreign correspondent Poul Høi refers to Johnson’s route to the British premiership and his disorganised style.

“What does he want? He has not obtained power with a public mandate, but through an effective background campaign in a desolate Conservative Party; and has won a majority amongst primarily older, white, male party members by promising them the hardest imaginable Brexit,” Høi writes.

“Johnson’s personal style and hard Brexit line has resulted in many experts placing him in a global Trump-Salvini-Orbán-Bolsonaro, axis which shares (the concepts of) post-truth and shamelessness,” Høi writes, paraphrasing and citing Alastair Campbell, the former advisor to Tony Blair.

“He looks like a man who has slept in his car, with his crumpled jacket, messy blonde hair and general disorder, and that’s his style,” Høi also writes.

READ ALSO: Fewer Brits visit Denmark since Brexit vote, reversing previous trend

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EUROPEAN UNION

How you can vote in advance of Denmark’s EU elections

With several weeks still to go until the June 9th EU elections in Denmark, votes can be submitted from Monday after local authorities began accepting postal votes.

How you can vote in advance of Denmark’s EU elections

Although the process of early voting is called “postal voting” (brevstemme in Danish), the voting ballot does not necessarily have to be sent by mail.

Advance voting can also take place at official locations including municipal Borgerservice (Citizens’ Service) offices, libraries or educational institutions.

For example, residents in second city Aarhus can vote at the city’s flagship Dokk1 library from Monday. In Copenhagen, a range of locations across the city, listed on the Copenhagen Municipality website, accept postal votes.

To vote by mail, you must attend one of the designated advance voting locations and must bring your ballot card (valgkort) and an accepted form of ID. Valid ID includes a passport, driving license, the yellow health insurance card (sygesikringskort) or the app version of the health card.

In EU parliamentary elections, nationals of all EU countries who reside in Denmark can both vote in the elections and run for office.

Nationals of non-EU countries cannot vote or run in these elections.

To be eligible to vote and run in the EU elections, you must either be eligible to vote in Danish general elections or be an EU national who resides in Denmark. You must be 18 years old or more.

Unlike with general elections, foreign-based Danes can also vote in EU elections in Denmark if they live in another EU country (but not a non-EU country).

READ ALSO: Can EU nationals in Denmark vote in the European elections?

“We are going to scale up after a while will also allow voting at selected libraries,” Aarhus Municipality’s head of election services Lene Hartig Danielsen told newswire Ritzau.

Advance voting is becoming an increasingly popular option relative to attending an polling station on election day.

The 2022 general election saw an advanced voting rate of just under 10 percent, the highest ever.

Advanced votes can also be changed if the voter has a change of heart between submitting the vote and election day. The most recent submitted vote is the one which is counted.

However, it is not possible to vote in person on election day if you have already advance voted.

It should also be noted that you can vote in any municipality, not just the municipality where you live.

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