Social Democrats in Denmark suffer sweeping election losses

"Mette Frederiksen has admitted that a fall in support for the Social Democrats was greater than we had expected after her party suffered sweeping defeats across Denmark and lost control of Copenhagen for the first time in more than 100 years. While the Social Democrats remain the largest municipal party in Denmark, the prime minister's centre-left party lost more than 5 percentage points across the country in Tuesday night's municipal and regional elections, dropping from 28.4% in 2021 to 23.2%."

"Support for the far right Danish People's party, meanwhile, rose slightly from 4.09% to 5.9%. In Copenhagen, Frederiksen's close personal friend, Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, who is understood to have been handpicked by the prime minister to run for lord mayor in the Danish capital, failed to get the votes she needed. The position of lord mayor, it was announced, will be held by Sisse Marie Welling from the Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti, known as SF), which won 17.9% of the vote. We have written history at city hall, she said. The Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) remained the capital's biggest party with 22.1% of the vote."

"Looking disconsolate after the historic defeat, Frederiksen said: We had expected to go back, but it seems that the decline is greater than we had expected. We will consider what is behind this. Frederiksen cited rising food prices, and an imbalance between rural and urban areas, for her party's decline in popularity. She also pointed to crime committed by people coming from outside, reinforcing her hardline stance on immigration."

The Social Democrats suffered major losses in Denmark's municipal and regional elections, falling from 28.4% in 2021 to 23.2% nationwide. The far-right Danish People's Party rose modestly from 4.09% to 5.9%. Copenhagen will not have a Social Democrat lord mayor for the first time in over a century; Sisse Marie Welling of the Green Left (SF) won 17.9% and the Red-Green Alliance remained the capital's largest party with 22.1%. Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, a close ally of the prime minister, failed to secure the lord mayor position. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen acknowledged a larger-than-expected decline and cited rising food prices, rural-urban imbalance, and crime by outsiders as contributing factors.

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