COPY LINK

For members

2022 DANISH ELECTION

The 13 (or is it 14?) political parties running in Denmark’s election

With 13 different parties currently in Danish parliament, it can be difficult to know which ones are right-wing, which are left-wing and what they are saying during the election campaign. Here's a summary to help you out.

Published: 13 October 2022 17:52 CEST

The 13 (or is it 14?) political parties running in Denmark's election

The leaders of Denmark's many political parties take part in a debate at Esbjerg Gymnasium on October 13th. Photo: Frank Cilius/Ritzau Scanpix

RED ‘BLOC’

Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet)

The current government is led by the Social Democrats, who are the largest left wing party (venstrefløjsparti) and part of the red bloc (rød bloc) of allied parties on the left wing.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said she will seek to form a government across the political centre, which would break with Denmark’s established ‘bloc politics’ system which sees the left and right-wing parties in opposing factions. Although this is unusual, the restrictive approach of the Social Democrats on immigration, for example, mean it can find itself in agreement with right-wing parties on some areas.

Frederiksen sees both the right-wing Liberals (Venstre) and Conservatives as potential centre coalition partners, along with the centre-left Social Liberal (Radikale Venstre) and Socialist People’s (SF) parties.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen participates in the Social Democratic Party's election meeting before hanging election posters on Nytorv in Aalborg on Saturday 8 October 2022. — Current Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen participates in the Social Democratic Party’s election meeting before hanging election posters on Nytorv in Aalborg on 8th October 2022. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

In the election campaign, the Social Democrats have placed emphasis on their initiatives to help people through the current economic uncertainty. This includes lowering taxes for people in employment (beskæftigelsesfradraget) and setting a ceiling for rent increases.

The party also says it will to do more to help the environment and offer a green alternative to Russia’s gas supply.

Socialist People’s Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti or SF)

This is left-wing party is more social democratic than socialist, despite its name. It typically campaigns on equal rights and opportunities.

SF proposals include increasing the financial aid during the winter energy crisis – especially giving extra help to families with children; students; old people and people receiving benefits. They also propose lowering the gas tax and stopping fare increases on public transport.

The party suggests raising this extra money from a special tax on higher-than-usual profits on shipping companies, including Mærsk, which expects a large profit as a result of higher freight prices.

Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre)

This centre-left party has emphasised the need to improve the lives of young people. They want more resources and better education for teachers in schools, nurseries and kindergartens, as well as more resources and staff to look after young people’s mental health with less focus on tests in schools.

The party also wants to create 63,000 more jobs by 2030, which includes attracting international workers.

Leader of Radikale Venstre party Sofie Carsten Nielsen at a press conference on 5th October 2022. — Leader of Denmark’s Social Liberals, Radikale Venstre, Sofie Carsten Nielsen, (centre) at a press meeting on 5th October 2022. Photo: Martin Sylvest/ Ritzau Scanpix 2022

Red Green Alliance (Enhedslisten)

This is a far-left party which supports high taxes, particularly on businesses, public ownership of infrastructure and supports a more open immigration policy than parties in the centre.

The party has announced it wants ticket prices on public transport to be halved, to help people struggling financially due to inflation. The measure would be financed by postponing motorway projects, according to the proposal. The ticket reduction would be temporary and would be in place for a one-year period up to January 1st 2024.

Independent Greens (Frie Grønne)

This party is led by Sikandar Siddique, a former member of the Alternative party, and was formed in 2020.

Alongside its environmental platform, the Independent Greens focus strongly on fighting racism, inequality and hate speech. They want to allow non-citizens to vote in parliamentary elections if they have lived in Denmark for four years. They also want to reduce animal production and limit the number of vehicles on the road.

The party hasn’t run in a general election before and looks unlikely to reach the threshold of 2 percent of the vote share needed to get into parliament. It gained 0.6 percent at the most recent opinion poll.

Leader of Independent Greens Party (Frie Grønne) Sikandar Siddique — Leader of the Independent Greens (Frie Grønne) Sikandar Siddique photographed at Blågårds Plads, Copenhagen, where he grew up. Photo: Linda Kastrup/Ritzau Scanpix

The Alternative (Alternativet)

The environmentalist party has crept up to the two percent threshold needed to enter parliament for the first time since early 2020, after internal struggles saw several member leave following a poor performance in the 2019 election.

Alternative proposes reducing the working week to 30 hours which it says will provide more time to spend on nature, culture and with loved ones. The party also wants to help young people’s well-being in education and mental health care.

READ MORE: The Danish vocabulary you’ll need to follow the election

BLUE ‘BLOC’

Liberals (Venstre)

Despite the word Venstre meaning left, this is actually Denmark’s largest right wing party (højrefløjsparti) and nominal leader of the blue bloc (blå bloc) of allied parties on the right wing. Leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen is running as a candidate for Prime Minister.

Leader of Venstre, Denmark's Liberal Party, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen hangs up election posters in Aarhus on 8th October 2022. — Leader of Venstre, Denmark’s Liberal Party, Venstre, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen hangs up election posters in Aarhus on 8th October 2022. Jakob Ellemann-Jensen is running as candidate for Prime Minister. Photo: Helle Arensbak/Ritzau Scanpix

The party wants to roll back the current plans to redistribute Denmark’s upper secondary school students to ensure a more “mixed” learning environment. From the next school year, upper secondary school pupils may be assigned a different school based on their parents’ salaries; something the Liberals are strongly against.

Other proposals from the Liberals include shorter waiting times for fertility treatment and private care homes for the elderly in all municipalities, as an alternative option to state care homes.

The party also recently announced it wants to sell the state’s ownership stake in energy company Ørsted’s offshore wind business, to “enable massive climate investments without taxes being raised,” according to party leader Ellemann-Jensen.

Conservatives (Det Konservative Folkeparti)

This is Denmark’s second largest right-wing party and has looked close to overtaking the Liberals in the polls at various stages, but is currently a couple of points behind. Leader Søren Pape Poulsen is running as candidate for Prime Minister.

Leader of the Conservative Party Søren Pape Poulsen hangs up election posters in Viborg, Saturday 8th October 2022. Søren Pape Poulsen is running as candidate for Prime Minister. Photo: Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

The party wants stronger punishments for criminal acts such as violence and supports strict immigration rules.

The party wants to invest more in the sick and elderly. They want more private suppliers of care homes, to give elderly people more of a choice where they live. They would like to lower taxes such as company tax, inheritance tax and electricity tax and increase the tax deduction for people in employment.

Liberal Alliance (Liberal Alliance)

Libertarian party Liberal Alliance has a policy in favour of scrapping Denmark’s key anti-racism law, racismeparagraffen, which makes racist statements criminal. Critics have argued that scrapping the law could mean less protection from hate crimes — for example, racist graffiti could theoretically be punished as vandalism but not as hate speech. However, in line with its libertarian standpoint, Liberal Alliance says that the anti-racism law impinges on freedom of speech.

The party would also like the first 7,000 kroner people earn a month to be tax-free and the highest income tax to be 40 percent.

Denmark Democrats (Danmarksdemokraterne)

The party’s leader is former immigration minister Inger Støjberg, who was was expelled from parliament last year after being convicted of violating migrants’ rights by separating asylum-seeking couples. She then formed the Denmark Democrats who are set for a strong first election showing, boosted by Støjberg’s popularity amongst right-wing voters and the addition of several former members of the Danish People’s Party to its line-up of candidates.

One of their manifestos is for foreigners to integrate into Danish society and culture. Støjberg says she wants to increase incentives for people with minority backgrounds to enter the labour market by reducing tax. They do not have a substantive climate policy at the current time, according to statements recently given by on of the party’s candidates to a journalist from Frihedsbrevet.

Inger Støjberg, leader of the Denmark Democrats, with an election poster on 8th October 2022. — Inger Støjberg, leader of the Denmark Democrats, holding an election poster on 8th October 2022. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti or DF)

Anti-immigration party DF is just over the two percent threshold needed to enter parliament according to polls. That represents a remarkable decline in fortunes for the right wing group, which played a hugely influential role in Danish politics in the 2000s and 2010s and had a vote share of 21 percent as recently as 2015.

As part of its election campaign, DF states that it wants to Denmark to leave international human rights conventions that prevent the deportation of foreign nationals with criminal convictions under certain circumstances. Repatriation policy must be consistent so that “unsuitable foreigners” (utilpassede fremmede) as they have described, are sent home.

DF has also recently touted rules allowing elderly care patients to refuse home care staff who wear the Muslim head scarf, but appears to have little backing on this from the other right wing parties.

The party also wants to invest more in healthcare.

New Right (Nye Borgerlige)

This far-right party wants to leave the EU and wants stricter rules to be applied to foreign nationals in Denmark, including self-sufficiency requirements related to residency permits. It wants Denmark to deport all foreign nationals with criminal records.

The party also wants a new asylum system and has previously demanded a “zero asylum” policy in which Denmark does not grant protection to any refugees at all, but softened this stance after the Russian invasion of Ukraine (but not for people from Muslim countries).

Nye Borgerlige — the only Danish party without an official English name — also wants to close down job centres as they believe they are too expensive to run and inefficient.

UNALIGNED

Moderates (Moderaterne)

Headed by former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who used to be leader of the Liberals. Rasmussen has not declared his new party in either bloc, saying he would prefer a coalition across the centre. The party hasn’t run in a general election before.

The Moderates want to lower taxes for those on lower incomes, they want to increase pay for nurses and reduce waiting times for patients and introduce a culture pass for young people to experience theatres, museums and music.

Rasmussen has also said he wants immigration rules to stay strict but to adopt a more sensible approach.

The election for the Danish Parliament (Folketing) will be held on Tuesday, 1st November 2022.

READ ALSO: How citizenship rules affect voting rights in the Nordic countries

The 14th party: Christian Democrats

A 14th party, the Christian Democrats, should also be mentioned here. They are not currently represented in parliament and polls put them well under the 2 percent vote threshold for representation, meaning they are likely to remain outside of parliament after the election.

The Christian Democrats generally want policies that assist families and would vote with the conservative bloc of parties, were they in parliament.

The party primarily receives coverage in the Danish media in relation to its position on abortion rights. All Danish parties are pro-choice. The Christian Democrats say they do not want to change the law on abortion but want to bring the number of abortions down through means like counselling and alternative options.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

INTERVIEW: 'A lot of people think Brexit is done, but it's not for Brits in Europe'

In the early days of 2021, after the United Kingdom had left the EU and completed the final stage of Brexit, many British citizens returned to their home countries in Europe only to face a grilling at the border.

Though the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) technically guaranteed their right to live and work in the countries they’d settled in before Brexit, there was widespread confusion about these fundamental rights and many were treated like new arrivals.

Over time, the chaos at the airports subsided as border officials and airlines were given clearer guidance on the treatment of Brits. But three years later, a number of Brits who live on the continent still face problems when it comes to proving their post-Brexit rights.

This was the reason campaign group British in Europe decided to set up their new EU-funded ICE project. Starting this year in March, it aims to build valuable connections between UK citizens abroad and mentor the next generation of civil rights advocates around the continent. The acronym stands for ‘Inform, Empower, Connect’ and the project’s organisers describe it as “the first project of its kind”.

“It’s a completely innovative project – especially the fact that it’s across so many countries,” Jane Golding, chair of British in Europe and one of the project’s founders, told The Local.

Bringing together groups from 11 EU member states, the project aims to train up volunteers to understand both the Withdrawal Agreement and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as learning skills like advocacy and communication, using real-life civil rights cases that are referred to British in Europe.

“The ultimate goal is to amplify the messages across the wider group,” said Golding. “You start with the volunteers, they go back to their groups, then the people that we train, they go back and train people. Then they pass on that knowledge to the wider groups, on their Facebook accounts and through social media, and hopefully it all snowballs, not just in their countries but across the EU.”

‘Far-reaching repercussions’

So many years after Brexit, it’s hard to believe that there’s still a need for a project like ICE that empowers Brits to protect their rights. Indeed, the future of groups like British in Europe and regional groups like British in Germany and British in Spain felt uncertain just a year or two ago.

But Golding says there are still serious issues cropping up for Brits in several countries around Europe – they just have a different quality to the problems that arose at the start.

“In some ways it’s needed even more because as we predicted right at the beginning, at the first stage of implementation, you’ve got the more routine cases,” she explained.

“What we’re seeing now is not as many cases, but when the cases come up, they’re complex. They can have such far-reaching repercussions on people’s lives. And of course, memories start to fade. A lot of people think Brexit is already done, but it’s not.”

Volunteers in British in Europe ICE project

The volunteers of the British in Europe ICE project pose for a photo at the kick-off meeting in Brussels on May 21st, 2024. Photo courtesy of Jane Golding

Though the rights set out in the Withdrawal Agreement apply across the continent, different countries have taken different approaches to implementing them.

That means that while in Germany, for example, UK citizens simply had to declare that they lived in the country, people in neighbouring Denmark had to apply for their rights.

This led to a notorious situation in Denmark in which as many as 2,000 Brits were threatened with deportation after not applying in time or completing the right application process. According to Golding, this had a lot to do with the fact that people who arrived in 2020 weren’t given the same information as other UK migrants who arrived before.

In Sweden, meanwhile, the situation is still difficult for many Brits who lived there prior to Brexit.

“There have been issues with an anomalously high numbers of refusals compared to other countries, and they seem to be taking a very strict approach on late applications,” Golding explained.

Portugal has been another difficult case. Although the country opted for a declaratory system where Brits could simply exchange old residence documents for a new ID card after Brexit, reports suggest that the authorities have taken years to issue these cards, leaving many of the some 34,000 Brits in the country in limbo.

“While people are still waiting to have their status confirmed and have their card in their hand, it’s difficult to access a whole range of services, like health services, or applying for jobs or dealing with the authorities, or even going to the bank,” Golding said. “All of these problems just affect people’s lives.”

A French border guard checks a passport at the border

A French border guard checks a passport at the border. Photo by DENIS CHARLET / AFP

There are also concerns about the EU’s new exit and entry system (EES), due to come into force in October, which is based on biometric documentation.

“We still do not have clear data on how many people in declaratory countries like Germany, where it wasn’t compulsory to apply for the card, don’t actually have a card,” Golding said. “How is that going to play out if it’s a document-based digitalised system?”

A lack of support

In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was still available to support NGOs in Europe helping Brits with their migration and civil rights issues. But that temporary funding soon expired, leaving groups like British in Europe largely on their own.

“The whole point is people’s lives change at very different paces,” Golding said. “And now this project is really going to start to pick up some of those cases and report on those issues, which is really crucial and exciting for the precedent that it sets, and it’s very clearly necessary still, because people don’t just sort their lives in the 18 months that the FCDO chose to supply that funding.”

This feeling of being left alone and increasingly isolated from the UK is one that many Brits in Europe have felt in the aftermath of Brexit. But the upcoming UK election on July 4th could be a game-changer.

This time, following a change in the law, Brits who have lived abroad for more than 15 years will be able to vote for the first time.

Polling station in the UK

A polling station in the UK. Photo by Elliott Stallion on Unsplash

When it comes to the election, the message from British in Europe is clear: “Make your voice count now, make your vote count, make sure you use it,” Golding said.

With the June 18th registration deadline fast approaching, BiE is advising UK citizens abroad to apply for a proxy vote as soon as possible, rather than relying on a postal vote from abroad. Since the 15-year rule was abolished on January 16th, more than 100,000 British citizens have registered to vote, according to official statistics. It is unclear how many were registered before the change in the law.

With an estimated 5.5 million Brits currently living abroad – 1.3 million of whom are in the EU – this could have a significant impact on the electoral landscape, Golding says. But most significantly, the change is creating a feeling of connection and belonging that wasn’t there before.

Nurturing this sense of belonging is one of the main goals of ICE.

With these bridges being built, British in Europe hopes to create a network of support that spans across borders.

“Now we’ve met. We’re going to meet,” said Golding. “We know we’re going to meet again in Berlin in October and then we’ll meet again in the new year in 2025 as well. It means a huge amount because even British in Europe, our steering team, we’ve only met physically three times.”

This opens up the possibility of people sharing their knowledge from country to country, Golding explained.

“There is crossover and the reassurance of having that EU wide view and knowing that you’re not alone and knowing that in this country, we managed to get this solution,” she said. “And then you can go back and say to the authorities in your country, well, in that country they did that – all of that helps. It’s really good.”

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!