Denmark PM to try to form new government after election win

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was in a strong position to remain in power after her Social Democrats won most votes in Denmark's election Tuesday and a centre-left bloc in Parliament that backs appeared set to retain a majority by just one seat.

result was preliminary and based on assumption that a vote count in Greenland expected early Wednesday would give automous Danish territory's two seats to centre-left bloc.

I am so thrilled and proud. We have gotten best election result in 20 years, Frederiksen told supporters early Wednesday in Copenhn.

Despite success, Frederiksen, who hes a Social Democratic mirity government, said she would resign as prime minister and try to form a new government with broer support across political divide, something she h said suggested before election.

"It is also clear re is longer a majority behind government in its current form. refore, tomorrow I will submit government's resignation to queen, said Frederiksen, ding that she would meet with or parties about forming a new government. 

Frederiksen was forced to call vote earlier this month amid fallout from her government's contentious decision to cull millions of minks as a pandemic response measure. cull and chilling ims of mass graves of minks have haunted Frederiksen since 2020 and eventually led to cracks in centre-left bloc.

Social Democrats remained Denmark's top party with 28 per cent of vote, but it remained unclear long into night wher centre-left parties toger would reach 90 seats needed for a majority in 179-seat Parliament. Exit polls suggested y would fall short, but decisive seat flipped at very end of vote count. 

Before that former Prime Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen appeared set to become kingmaker. His newly formed centrist party won 9 per cent of vote for 16 seats, according to preliminary results.

Lkke Rasmussen said he too wanted to Mette Frederiksen to try to form a government but he would t point at her as prime minister.

A two-time government leer who lost 2019 election to Frederiksen and abandoned centre-right Liberal party following an internal power struggle, Lkke Rasmussen, wouldn't say whom he would back as next prime minister or wher he saw that role for himself.

I kw for sure that Denmark needs a new government,"  he told jubilant supporters in Copenhn. Who is going to sit at end of table we do t kw.

Denmark may be a small, tranquil country kwn for having some of happiest people on Earth, but its politics is filled with intrigue that will be familiar to fans of fictional Danish TV drama series Borgen.

Before election, Frederiksen, 44, floated idea of a broer alliance that would also include opposition parties, but was rebuffed by opposition leers Jakob Ellemann-Jensen of Liberals and Sren Pape Poulsen of Conservatives, who both ran as candidates for prime minister in a centre-right government.

Even though election result suggested she could ostensibly carry on as prime minster with only centre-left support, Frederiksen said she would keep her ambition to also reach out to opposition parties.

Social Democrats went to election to form a bro government," she said. "I will investigate wher it can be done.

Denmark's more than 4 million voters could choose among over 1,000 candidates   most ever  from 14 parties. Four of 179 seats in Danish legislature, Folketinget, are reserved for Faeroe Islands and Greenland, which are automous Danish territories.

Concerns about rising inflation and energy prices linked to Russia's war in Ukraine and a short of nurses in public health care system were key mes in election campaigns.

What I feel is important and is a worry to many are soaring prices, wher it be electricity, bre or gasoline, said Inge Bjerre Hansen, 82, after casting her vote in Copenhn. My son is reducing number of his visits because it has become expensive to fill tank (of his car).

Unlike in previous elections, immigration received little attention. Denmark has some of Europe's strictest immigration laws and re is bro agreement among major parties to keep it that way.

That and internal squabbles help explain collapse of populist Danish People's Party, which spearheed Denmark's crackdown on immigration two deces ago. Once polling over 20 per cent, party recorded its worst parliamentary election result since its creation in 1995, with around 3 per cent of vote, results showed.

Danish People's Party faced competition for nationalist voters from new right-wing parties. Among m are Denmark Democrats, created in June by former hardline immigration minister Inger Stjberg. In 2021, Stjberg was convicted by rarely used Impeachment Court for a 2016 order to separate asylum-seeking couples if one of partners was a mir.

She was eligible to run for office again after serving her 60-day sentence. official results showed her party getting 8 per cent.

Frederiksen, who became Denmark's youngest prime minister when she took office at 41 more than three years ago, teamed up with opposition to hike NATO-member Denmark's defense spending in wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.