These University of Copenhagen profiles are running for office in local elections

It is local election time in Denmark on 18 November, and you can vote if you are: A citizen of another EU country or Iceland, Norway, and the UK; or have resided in Denmark for a period of four years prior to election day.

So this overview is for you if you’re the type who likes to vote for someone who feels familiar. The University Post has compiled a list of all University of Copenhagen (UCPH) candidates — students and staff — who are running in the local and regional elections.

We’ve managed to identify a total of 30 candidates affiliated with UCPH. Three are seeking re-election, while the rest are running for the first time. Four staff members have made their way onto the list, which otherwise consists of students.

No big surprise here, but political science is the programme that has the most candidates. A total of ten political science students are running — twelve if you count the two studying social science.

The vote is for 98 municipalities (city councils) and 5 regions in Denmark. Municipalities are responsible for things like schools, elderly care, traffic and waste management, while the regions handle hospitals.

UCPH candidates are spread across seven different municipalities on the island of Zealand. And in the regional elections, you’ll find six UCPH candidates on the ballot. Here, health science programmes are well represented with three candidates.

If the municipal elections were decided by the most popular party among UCPH candidates, the Social Liberal Party (Radikale Venstre) and the Conservative Party would be neck and neck. Each has seven UCPH-affiliated candidates. The Red/Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) is close behind with six, while The Alternative party and the Liberal Party (Venstre) each have three candidates.

The University Post has not been able to find any UCPH-affiliated candidates running for other parties or electoral lists.

The article continues below the table.

No flyers for colleagues

One UCPH staff member has a stacked calendar: Jens-Christian Navarro Poulsen is head of labs at the Department of Chemistry, but in this election he’s running for the Social Liberal Party in the Frederiksberg municipality. He also ran in the last election but wasn’t elected.

»I’m running because I want to make sure that the finances are in order in Frederiksberg, so we can take care of those who are the most vulnerable,« says Jens-Christian Navarro Poulsen.

He’s fighting for more student housing, and wants to see more green spaces in Frederiksberg.

The election period is an extra busy time for him. Campaign work takes place outside regular working hours, so his mornings, evenings and weekends are all dedicated to his cause.

»Luckily, a lot of campaigning happens on social media these days, which makes things more flexible,« he says.

While some people opt to take time off work in the final week of the campaign, Poulsen has no plans to let the election interfere with his job. He’s not taking extra time off, and he has a principle that he will not hand out flyers to colleagues or neighbours:

»I don’t campaign on my home turf. I prefer to keep things separate.«

UCPH is an international workplace, and many non-Danish students and staff don’t know that they’re eligible to vote in the local elections.

Jens-Christian Navarro Poulsen, Department of Chemistry. Candidate for the Social Liberal Party in Frederiksberg

The only time Poulsen mixes politics and work is in his campaign to boost voter turnout. He’s put up no fewer than 16 posters near Frederiksberg Campus with the slogan ‘This is your election too’ in 10 different languages:

»UCPH is an international workplace, and many non-Danish students and staff don’t know that they’re eligible to vote in the local elections. I hope the posters will remind them that they can.«

Another UCPH employee dedicating time to the election campaign is Annie Grim Balsen. She’s 27 and works as an event coordinator at UCPH. She’s running for the Red-Green Alliance in Roskilde.

»We were short on young candidates on our candidate list and in municipal politics in general, so that motivated me to run,« she says, adding:

»I am involved in politics because things have got incredibly expensive these days making it hard for people to just exist. Many people are hit hard by the high costs. I fight for affordable housing, a cleaner Roskilde Fjord, and better public transport.«

It is the first time Balsen is running for office herself, but she has previously campaigned for other Red-Green Alliance candidates. So her workload is not much heavier than in previous elections:

»We’ve got a couple of lead candidates who attend most of the debates. We don’t have many seats in Roskilde, so I’m more of a support candidate helping with the campaign.«

Wants her seat back

While some people are trying to break into local politics, Celine Lind Jacobsen is fighting to stay there. She is 24 years old and is doing a master’s in Islamic Studies.

At the last municipal election, she was just five votes from getting elected to Fredensborg City Council. She ended up as a substitute. But when another council member went on sick leave, she stepped in. She has now served on the city council for two years for the Conservative Party and has no intention of stopping.

»I knew already four years ago that I wanted to give it another go. It’s important to me that young people are represented in the councils also.«

It takes a lot of time, so you need to be driven by a sense of making a difference.

Celine Lind Jacobsen, student and candidate for the Conservatives in Fredensborg

Celine Lind Jacobsen joined the Conservative Party the minute she turned 18. During her time on the council, she has helped set up a youth council that aims to give a voice to young people and students in the municipality.

She admits that balancing her studies with her city council seat is not always easy. According to Celine Lind Jacobsen, it takes a fair amount of self-discipline:

»At one point I tried to calculate my hourly wage. Let us just say you don’t do it for the financial incentives,« she says, and continues:

»It takes a lot of time, so you need to be driven by a sense of making a difference. I fight, for example, for families to be given more autonomy through increased subsidies for home-based childcare.«

She spends two or three evenings a week on city council work. There are upsides to being a student and city council member. Celine Lind Jacobsen has greater flexibility than those colleagues who have full-time jobs.

»On the other hand, I’m constantly burdened with this study-related feeling of guilt. Especially during exam periods, it’s hard to prioritise studying properly.«

Celine Lind Jacobsen is second on the Conservative Party list in Fredensborg and the top-ranked woman. She hopes to be re-elected and is excited to see what happens. In the meantime, she is spending the campaign out talking to voters:

»The great thing about campaigning is that you get real feedback on what you’re doing well — and what people want you to do better next time.«

Køge or Copenhagen

If you live in Køge and want to vote for the Liberal Party (Venstre), you can cast your vote for political science student Josefine Paaske in the local elections. Residents in the Eastern Denmark Region won’t miss out either — she is also on the ballot for the regional council elections.

»Køge City Council is my top priority. I’ve been open about that from the beginning,« she says.

The path to being on the ballot in Køge wasn’t without its challenges for Josefine Paaske. The 22-year-old was initially offered the role as Venstre’s young candidate for the City of Copenhagen, but turned it down. Her heart was in Køge, where she was born and raised. That was despite being guaranteed a favourable spot on the Copenhagen list while she had to fight for third place on the Køge list.

»There are a few more young candidates in Copenhagen than in the rest of the country. It’s an attempt to break the vicious cycle where young people don’t care about politics.«

Josefine Paaske also feels that Venstre’s politics in Køge align more closely with her profile than those of Venstre in the capital city:

»Downtown Venstre can sometimes feel a bit distant from my own views, which is another reason I chose Køge.«

It’s an attempt to break the vicious cycle where young people don’t care about politics.

Josefine Paaske, student and candidate for Venstre in Køge and the Region of Eastern Denmark

Another political science student whose views lie somewhat opposite to downtown Venstre — possibly in the other direction — is Jonas Heidari. He’s running for the Red/Green Alliance in Copenhagen. To make time for both studies and campaigning, he’s chosen to study part-time this autumn semester.

»I make it a priority to attend all my classes, that’s how I learn best, but the rest of my time goes into the campaign,« he says.

Jonas Heidari is up early every day handing out flyers. Afterwards, he meets up with other candidates at the Red/Green Alliance’s office, where he works on social media, organises the campaign, or takes part in interviews. He lives in a dorm, so evenings are usually spent hanging out with friends in the kitchen before diving into another hectic day.

»Every day is different. It can be a bit exhausting, but it’s also really fun. It feels good to fight for what you believe in, and I’m in the flow right now.«

If elected, Jonas Heidari wants to fight for more affordable housing and better support for volunteer organisations. This is his first time running, and his studies were a major reason he decided to go for it this year:

»I’ve always wanted to help bring change to my community and I’m driven by a sense of social justice. I wanted to understand it better — that’s why I applied to study political science,« he says, and continues:

»Through the course of my studies, I’ve developed a more critical perspective on society and learned about different solutions that I believe can lead to more justice. That’s what I want to fight for — and that’s why I’m running.«

This article was first written in Danish and published on 11 November 2025. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.