The bloc of left-wing parties can count on 84 seats, and right-wing parties have a total of 77 seats. To have a majority, the government needs 90 seats in the 179-seat Folketing. In such a situation, as predicted by pre-election polls, the centrist Moderate party will be the key, winning 7.7%, or 14 seats.
A historic defeat despite winning
Result of the Danish Social Democratic Party – 21.9 percent. — despite the victory, it is considered a historic defeat, this is the lowest support since 1901. In 2022, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's party won 27.5 percent.
“Taking responsibility is tiring,” Frederiksen explained the poor result. The Prime Minister said from the stage at the Social Democrats' election headquarters that she was ready to be the head of government for another four years.
The Socialist People's Party took second place, gaining 11.6 percent. votes. The third result was achieved by the Liberal Party – 10.1%, which is also the worst result in history. The Liberal Alliance is fourth with a result of 9.4 percent, and the surprisingly high fifth result was achieved by the far-right Danish People's Party – 9.1 percent.
The exit poll for the public broadcaster DR predicted a slightly worse result for the Social Democrats and the Liberal Party, and also underestimated the success of the Danish People's Party, which improved its result by 6.5% compared to the elections four years ago.
A coalition of Social Democrats, the Liberal Party and the Moderates has governed Denmark since 2022. After Tuesday's elections, these parties lost their majority in parliament. The poor result of the Liberal Party is the defeat of the leader of this group, the current Minister of Defense, Troels Lund Poulsen. The good result of the Moderates is, in turn, the success of the dynamic campaign of Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
According to many commentators, he has a good chance of becoming the new prime minister. Rasmussen has already held this position twice in the past, in 2009-11 and 2015-19, but then as head of the Liberal Party.
84% of people took part in this year's parliamentary elections. eligible to vote, this is the lowest turnout since 1990.
