Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's Left-Wing Coalition Leads in Danish General Election

Majority Unattained
Centrist Party Likely to Act as 'Kingmaker'

According to major foreign media outlets such as the Associated Press, the left-wing coalition led by incumbent Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who is seeking a third term, is expected to narrowly lead over the right-wing coalition in the Danish general election held on the 24th (local time).

Danish Prime Minister and Social Democrats leader Mette Frederiksen is shaking hands with citizens in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the 4th, the day of the general election (local time). Photo by AP Yonhap News

According to exit polls by local broadcaster DR and polling firm Epinion, in this election to select 179 members of parliament, the left-wing coalition is projected to win 83 seats, while the right-wing coalition, led by Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, is expected to secure 79 seats. In a separate exit poll jointly conducted by TV2 and Megafon, the left-wing coalition is expected to win 86 seats and the right-wing coalition 75 seats.

As a single party, the Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Frederiksen, are projected to become the largest party again with a 21% share of the vote, just as they did four years ago.

With both the left-wing and right-wing coalitions expected to fall short of a majority, foreign media analyzed that the centrist party led by current Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen is likely to play the role of 'kingmaker' once again.

If the left-wing coalition secures 86 seats, as indicated by the TV2 and Megafon exit poll results, there remains a scenario in which Prime Minister Frederiksen could form a coalition government by bringing together parliamentary members from Greenland and the Faroe Islands, who are allocated two seats each, thereby achieving a third consecutive term.

Until last year, it was widely expected that Prime Minister Frederiksen would lose power due to public discontent over soaring housing and living costs. However, after firmly opposing U.S. President Donald Trump's intention to annex Greenland, her approval ratings surged this year, and she capitalized on this momentum by calling a snap general election.

If she successfully secures a third term and completes her four-year tenure, Frederiksen—who became Denmark's youngest ever prime minister upon taking office in 2019—will set a new record as the longest-serving prime minister in Denmark's post-World War II history.

During the campaign, Prime Minister Frederiksen sought to strengthen her traditional support base by pledging to expand welfare funding through the introduction of a new wealth tax. Major foreign media analyzed this strategy as an effort to bring back the center-left voters who had distanced themselves due to her hardline refugee policies during her tenure.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.