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2022 DANISH ELECTION

Moderate party downplays importance of joining new Danish government 

After another round of negotiations with acting Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Moderate leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen says it’s beside the point if his party joins Frederiksen’s vision of a ‘broad, central’ government.

Moderate party downplays importance of joining new Danish government 
The Moderate party could put its votes behind a centrist coalition without being part of the government itself. Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Rasmussen, who was Prime Minister before Frederiksen when leader of the Liberal (Venstre) party, led the newly-formed Moderates into parliament in their first election on a platform of installing a centrist government.

The Moderates have a relatively strong hand in the negotiations with their 16 seats from 9.3 percent of the vote share in the election, which took place one month ago.

“For us, it’s not a separate ambition to be part of such a government,” Rasmussen said outside of the prime minister’s official residence at Marienborg on Wednesday.

“Whether we are in or not is less important. But we want to put ourselves in a position where we can influence the content. That’s what matters,” he said. 

“It strikes me that Mette Frederiksen and I go a long way towards sharing the analysis of what’s good for Denmark,” he added.

READ ALSO: What does Denmark’s Liberal party want from government negotiations?

Rasmussen has previously backed a potential government involving the Social Democrats and Liberals along with the Moderates, calling it an “excellent starting point”.

But he said on Wednesday that his party could lend support to a central coalition without being part of the government itself.

The Moderates could be influential “by forming the parliamentary basis for a government which consists of parties from both sides of the infamous political centre,” he said.

Although the centrist party is heavily involved in talks led by Frederiksen, it does not have decisive seats which could give either the left or right wings an overall majority. The left wing ‘red bloc’ took a single-seat victory in the November 1st election, meaning a left-wing government could be formed without the support of the Moderates.

But Frederiksen has eschewed the option of a government reliant on the support of the parties furthest to the left, the Red Green Alliance and Alternative, maintaining her pre-election pledge to seek a coalition across the centre.

There is no majority which could put a ‘blue bloc’ or conservative government in place.

READ ALSO: Five things to know about the Danish election result

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POLITICS

Danish government loses majority as MP defects to right-wing party

Member of parliament Mads Fuglede on Tuesday announced a switch from the Liberal (Venstre) party to the national conservative Denmark Democrats, leaving the coalition government without a clear majority to pass domestic policy.

Danish government loses majority as MP defects to right-wing party

Fuglede’s decision to switch parties means that the coalition government currently does not have a majority to guarantee it can pass domestic policy.

The now ex-Liberal MP announced in a statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday that he was switching to the Denmark Democrats, a party further to the right led by another former Liberal politician, the former immigration minister Inger Støjberg.

Fuglede said that he was against the centre-right Liberal party’s involvement in the coalition government alongside its traditional rivals the Social Democrats.

He also said that he was against the proposed tax on agricultural CO2 emissions, which is backed by the Liberals, a historically pro-agriculture party, as part of the coalition. The Denmark Democrats have been the most vocal opponents of the proposed CO2 tax.

“I was very much against participation in the government and many of the decisions that arose from it. I totally disagree with the latest decision to impose a CO2 tax on agriculture. And that decision will hit harder in West Jutland than anywhere else, which is why I am switching to the Denmark Democrats,” he wrote in the post, referencing the regional constituency which elected him to parliament in 2019.

Fuglede, a former Liberal defence spokesperson, has been considered one of the party’s more right-leaning MPs, notably on refugee policy. His new party leader, Støjberg, made her name as an immigration hardliner when she was a Liberal minister.

When the Liberals were in opposition in 2022, Fuglede spoke in favour of British nationals in Denmark whose ongoing residency rights were under threat as a result of administrative problems in relation to post-Brexit registrations.

The leader of the Liberal party and Deputy Prime Minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said he did not believe Fuglede’s defection put the government under existential threat.

“I think we now need some ice in our veins. First and foremost, we have the backing – in the event of a vote of no confidence – from the North Atlantic mandates,” he said in comments to newswire Ritzau.

The North Atlantic mandates are the four parliamentary seats filled by representatives elected in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Each of the four representatives are aligned with coalition parties but they do not generally vote on Danish domestic issues.

Another member of parliament, Kim Edberg, a former member of the far-right Nye Borgerlige, also announced on Tuesday that he had joined the Denmark Democrats. The party’s number of lawmakers thereby increased from 14 to 16.

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