Lars Løkke to be new Prime Minister - big gains to Danish People's Party

After the votes were counted late last night Thursday, Liberal Party leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he would try to form a government even though his party suffered a disastrous election, losing 12 seats. To do so, he will need to make big concessions to the populist Danish Peoples’ Party (DF), which won 37 seats to become the biggest party on the right. This is according to Seven59.dk and other media.

The ‘blue bloc’ won 90 seats in parliament against 85 seats for the coalition and its support parties, although all four seats from the Faroe Islands and Greenland went to the government, giving the new, centre-right alliance a narrow 90-89 majority.

Despite losing power, the Social Democrats regained their spot as the country’s biggest party, with 47 seats. Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt stepped down as Social Democrat leader early Friday morning.

Løkke to ‘take leadership’

As the head of the third-largest party in parliament, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who led Denmark as Prime Minister from 2009 to 2011, gave a victory speech at 01:30 early Friday morning when he said:

“Four years ago, we returned the keys to the Prime Minister’s office. I said that time that they were only a loan. Tonight we have been given an opportunity, but only an opportunity, to take leadership in Denmark. We take that upon ourselves and I take that upon myself.”

“What I offer today is to put myself at the head of a government.”

Danish People’s Party in government?

Given the gains of the Danish People’s Party, the leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl would not affirm his campaign stance that his party would remain outside government.

“What we have said before the election is also what we will follow after the election – that we will be where the political influence is greatest,” he said.

“If that is in a government, then that is where we will be. If it is outside of the government, then that is where we will be. That is what drives us, not cabinet positions.”

Final results

The final results, in seats, were as follows:

Red bloc:
The Social Democrats (A) – 47
Social Liberals (B) – 8
Socialist People’s party (F) – 7
Red-Green Alliance (Ø) – 14
The Alternative (Å) –9

Blue bloc:
Venstre (V) – 34
Danish People’s party (O) – 37
The Liberal Alliance (I) – 13
The Conservative People’s party (C) – 6

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