Following the publication of the study on the killing of minks during the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was persuaded to announce a snap parliamentary election. Our guest analyst, Dr. Christian Egander Skov explains that the election campaign centered around issues of economic unpredictability as well as energy and defense security.
Frederiksen’s center-left bloc came out on top securing the most votes. The ruling Social Democrats achieved their best result in two decades, yet they declared a wish to expand political participation outside the confines of the conventional Danish bloc politics. Dr. Skov stresses that Frederiksen’s aim to form a moderate minority government with parties from both blocs might be a tool for responsibility sharing in tough times.
While the center-left Social Liberals obtained one of their worst ever performance, libertarian Liberal Alliance gathered a lot more votes then last time. This is, because the Danish welfare state has come to a turning point and one can witness major transitions in the society primarily due to 21st century challenges such as immigration, climate change, and expanding urbanization – the guest expert argues. Traditional existential values are being questioned and the political formations either keep pace with the economically left-leaning but culturally more conservative majority of the society or retreat to the small-party status.
For further details on the performance of old and new political actors, the rivalry on the right, and the parties’ attitudes towards the EU, please listen to the latest Votes&Seats episode about the early legislative election in Denmark hosted by Bálint L. Tóth from the MCC Center for Political Science.
With the help of guest experts and politicians, in the podcast series of MCC’s Centre for Political Science we endeavor to analyze which actors are the real winners of the parliamentary and municipal elections taking place this year in different European countries and what exactly can be considered a real victory after the ballot counts.
