SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

Danish Conservative party names Juul as new leader

The Danish Conservative party has named Mona Juul as its new political leader following the death of previous leader Søren Pape Poulsen. Juul is also expected to become the party chairperson.

Danish Conservative party names Juul as new leader
Mona Juul has been named new political leader of the Conservative party. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix

Juul is the new political leader of the party and will be elected as party chair at an upcoming extraordinary national congress, the Conservatives said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

The date of the congress is yet to be confirmed and further arrangements will be made following a meeting of the party’s leadership.

A political leader can be chosen by the party’s members of parliament alone, but the chairperson must be elected by members.

In theory, the two roles can be held by different people, but this is not usually the case. Poulsen was both chairman and political leader until his death earlier this month.

READ ALSO: Danish politics in shock after death of Conservative leader Poulsen

“We are not letting go of Søren but we must choose a new political leader for our party, because that’s how parties work. Even though it doesn’t quite seem fair,” Juul said at the briefing.

“We are also looking to get things in order so we know what we agree on. I dare say Søren would have wanted that,” she said.

“I’m very proud that the Conservative parliamentary group has placed its confidence in me with the task of being political leader,” said Juul, who has been a member of parliament since 2019.

Juul’s previous roles in the party’s parliamentary group include as spokesperson for climate and business.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLITICS

Support for Denmark’s Liberal party hits record low in new poll

Support for Denmark's Liberal Party has hit the lowest level ever recorded since the polling company Voxmeter started measuring party support back in 2001, indicating it may have lost its position as the main party of the right.

Support for Denmark's Liberal party hits record low in new poll

Just 7.7 percent of respondents said they intended to vote for the party in a poll carried out for the Ritzau newswire, showing the party’s support almost halved since the 2022 election, which it received 13.3 percent of the vote.

As recently as the run-up to the 2015 general election, the party received the support of 22 percent of voters in one Voxmeter poll, challenging the Social Democrats for the title of Denmark’s biggest party. 

The Liberals have been struggling in recent years, with the party’s former leader, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, leaving and launching the rival Moderate party, and the party’s former immigration minister, Inger Støjberg, launching the Denmark Democrats after being expelled from the party.

Støjberg’s party received the support of 9.9 percent of voters in the poll, showing its charismatic leader now ahead of the party that expelled her. 

Torsten Schack, the Liberal party’s political spokesperson, told Ritzau it was too early to write off the party’s chances in the 2026 election. 

“There is no doubt that this is not the best poll for the Liberals, but history shows that this can move quickly in Danish politics, and there are no elections until 2026, so until then we will continue to generate solid results for centre-right supporters in the government,” he told the newswire in a text message. 

But it is the libertarian Liberal Alliance party, as the only centre-right party in opposition, which is challenging the Liberal’s position as the main, government-bearing party of the right, winning the support of 16 percent of voters in only the second time it has polled so high since it was founded in 2007 by MPs from the Social Liberal and Conservative Parties. 

The Social Democrats were still the largest party in the poll, with the support of 20.9 percent of voters — down from a recent high of 35.8 percent in May 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

They were followed by the Socialist Left party with 13.7 percent of the vote. 

SHOW COMMENTS