Elections in Denmark

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There are three types of elections in Denmark: elections to the national parliament (the Folketing), local elections (to municipal and regional councils), and elections to the European Parliament. Referendums may also be called to consult the Danish citizens directly on an issue of national concern.

Parliamentary elections are called by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, usually three to four years after the last election, although early elections may occur. Elections to local councils (municipal or regional) and to the European Parliament are held on fixed dates. Elections use the party-list proportional representation system. All Danish citizens, living in the Kingdom of Denmark and at least 18 years of age, are eligible to vote in parliamentary elections and long-time residents may vote in local elections.

The Kingdom of Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland) elects a unicameral parliament, the Folketing, on a national level. Of the 179 members of parliament, the Faroe Islands and Greenland elect two members each, 135 are elected from ten multi-member constituencies on a party list PR system using the d'Hondt method and the remaining 40 seats are allocated to ensure proportionality at a national level. To get a share of supplementary seats a party needs to get at least 2% of the total number of votes.

Only parties that reach any one of three thresholds stipulated by section 77 of the Folketing (Parliamentary) Elections Act—winning at least one constituency seat; obtaining at least the Hare quota (valid votes in province/number of constituency seats in province) in two of the three provinces; or obtaining at least 2% of the national vote—may compete for compensatory seats.^[1]

Denmark has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments and/or minority cabinets.

Elections to the Folketing must be held at least every four years.

The last general election was held in November 2022.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Denmark proper
	Social Democrats	971,995	27.50	50	+2
	Venstre	470,546	13.32	23	–20
	Moderates	327,699	9.27	16	New
	Green Left	293,186	8.30	15	+1
	Denmark Democrats	286,796	8.12	14	New
	Liberal Alliance	278,656	7.89	14	+10
	Conservative People's Party	194,820	5.51	10	–2
	Red–Green Alliance	181,452	5.13	9	–4
	Social Liberals	133,931	3.79	7	–9
	New Right	129,524	3.67	6	+2
	The Alternative	117,567	3.33	6	+1
	Danish People's Party	93,428	2.64	5	–11
	Independent Greens	31,787	0.90	0	New
	Christian Democrats	18,276	0.52	0	0
	Independents	4,288	0.12	0	0
Total		3,533,951	100.00	175	0
Valid votes		3,533,951	98.36
Invalid votes		12,599	0.35
Blank votes		46,272	1.29
Total votes		3,592,822	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,269,048	84.16
Source: DST
Faroe Islands
	Union Party	8,198	30.19	1	0
	Social Democratic Party	7,659	28.20	1	0
	Republic	4,927	18.14	0	0
	People's Party	4,222	15.55	0	0
	Centre Party	1,217	4.48	0	New
	Progress	936	3.45	0	0
Total		27,159	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		27,159	99.20
Invalid votes		73	0.27
Blank votes		146	0.53
Total votes		27,378	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		38,387	71.32
Source: kvf.fo
Greenland
	Siumut	7,424	38.58	1	0
	Inuit Ataqatigiit	4,852	25.21	1	0
	Democrats	3,656	19.00	0	0
	Naleraq	2,416	12.55	0	0
	Atassut	720	3.74	0	0
	Cooperation Party	176	0.91	0	0
Total		19,244	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		19,244	97.52
Invalid votes		197	1.00
Blank votes		293	1.48
Total votes		19,734	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		41,305	47.78
Source: Qinersineq

The latest elections for the ninety-eight municipal councils and the five regional councils were held on 16 November 2021.

The Denmark constituency directly elects thirteen members to the European Parliament every five years. The d'Hondt method of proportional representation is used. The last elections took place in June 2024.

The Constitution of Denmark requires a referendum to be held in the following three cases:

• if one third of the members of the Parliament demands a referendum on a law that has been passed in the previous 30 days (excluding some ) (Section 42 of the Constitution),^[2] or
• a law that transfers sovereignty to an international organisation has not received a majority of five-sixths of the MPs (Section 20 of the Constitution),^[2] or
• in case of changing the electoral age (Section 29 of the Constitution).^[2]

The option for one third of the members of the Parliament to put a law to a referendum has a number of restrictions. Finance Bills, Supplementary Appropriation Bills, Provisional Appropriation Bills, Government Loan Bills, Civil Servants (Amendment) Bills, Salaries and Pensions Bills, Naturalization Bills, Expropriation Bills, Taxation (Direct and Indirect) Bills, as well as Bills introduced for the purpose The Work of Parliament of discharging existing treaty obligations shall not be decided by a referendum. (Section 42, Subsection 6 of the Constitution)^[2]

Even though the Constitution of Denmark requires referendum to be held only if super-majority of five-sixths of members of Parliament cannot be obtained, in practice, referendums have been held every time new treaties of the European Union have been approved, even when more than five-sixths can be found. Recently, the Danish government was highly criticized when it did not hold a referendum regarding the controversial Lisbon treaty.

In all three cases, to defeat the proposition the no votes must not only outnumber the yes votes, they must also number at least 30% of the electorate.

The Constitution of Denmark can be changed only through the procedure set out in Section 88 of the Constitution.^[2] First, the government has to propose a change in constitution, then a parliamentary election is held. After the new parliament approves the same text of the constitutional changes, the proposal is put to a referendum. To pass, the yes votes must not only outnumber the no votes, they must also number at least 40% of the electorate.

Of the 19 referendums held in Denmark, the most recent are the 2015 referendum on ending the opt-out from the European Union justice laws and the 2022 referendum on ending the opt-out from the European Union security and military framework.

Overall the election was a win for the "red bloc" – the parties that supported Mette Frederiksen, leader of the Social Democrats, as prime minister. In total, the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals, Socialist People's Party and the Red–Green Alliance won 91 seats. Green party The Alternative chose to go into opposition as a "green bloc".^[3]

The Social Democrats defended their position as the largest party, and won an additional seat despite a slightly reduced voter share. They were closely followed by Venstre, who saw the largest gains in seats, picking up an extra nine. In the "blue bloc", only Venstre and the Conservative People's Party saw gains, the latter doubling their seats. The Danish People's Party's vote share fell by 12.4 percentage points (pp), well over half of their support. Leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl speculated that the bad result was due to an extraordinary good election in 2015, and that some voters felt they could "gain [their] policy elsewhere".^[4] The Liberal Alliance saw their vote share fall by over two-thirds and became the smallest party in the Folketing, only 0.3pp above the 2% election threshold. Their leader Anders Samuelsen was not reelected and he subsequently resigned as leader, succeeded by Alex Vanopslagh.^[5][6]

Of the new parties, only New Right won seats, with Hard Line, the Christian Democrats and Klaus Riskær Pedersen failing to cross the national 2% threshold, although the Christian Democrats were within 200 votes of winning a direct seat in the western Jutland constituency.^[7] On election night, Klaus Riskær Pedersen announced that he would dissolve his party.^[8]

In the Faroe Islands, Republic (which had finished first in the 2015 elections)^[9] dropped to fourth place and lost their seat. The Union Party replaced them as the first party while the Social Democratic Party finished in second place again, retaining their seat.^[10] In Greenland, the result was a repeat of the 2015 elections, with Inuit Ataqatigiit and Siumut winning the two seats. Siumut regained parliamentary representation after their previous MP, Aleqa Hammond, was expelled from the party in 2016.^[11][12] Hammond later joined Nunatta Qitornai,^[13] which finished fourth and failed to win a seat.^[12][14]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Denmark proper
	Social Democrats	914,882	25.90	48	+1
	Venstre	826,161	23.39	43	+9
	Danish People's Party	308,513	8.74	16	–21
	Danish Social Liberal Party	304,714	8.63	16	+8
	Socialist People's Party	272,304	7.71	14	+7
	Red–Green Alliance	245,100	6.94	13	–1
	Conservative People's Party	233,865	6.62	12	+6
	The Alternative	104,278	2.95	5	–4
	New Right	83,201	2.36	4	New
	Liberal Alliance	82,270	2.33	4	–9
	Stram Kurs	63,114	1.79	0	New
	Christian Democrats	60,944	1.73	0	0
	Klaus Riskær Pedersen	29,600	0.84	0	New
	Independents	2,774	0.08	0	0
Total		3,531,720	100.00	175	0
Valid votes		3,531,720	98.94
Invalid votes		10,019	0.28
Blank votes		27,782	0.78
Total votes		3,569,521	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,219,537	84.60
Faroe Islands
	Union Party	7,360	28.32	1	+1
	Social Democratic Party	6,640	25.55	1	0
	People's Party	6,181	23.79	0	0
	Republic	4,832	18.60	0	–1
	Progress	638	2.46	0	0
	Self-Government	334	1.29	0	0
Total		25,985	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		25,985	99.16
Invalid/blank votes		220	0.84
Total votes		26,205	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		37,264	70.32
Greenland
	Inuit Ataqatigiit	6,867	34.35	1	0
	Siumut	6,063	30.33	1	0
	Democrats	2,258	11.30	0	0
	Nunatta Qitornai	1,622	8.11	0	New
	Partii Naleraq	1,564	7.82	0	0
	Atassut	1,098	5.49	0	0
	Cooperation Party	518	2.59	0	New
Total		19,990	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		19,990	97.16
Invalid/blank votes		585	2.84
Total votes		20,575	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		41,344	49.77
Source: Statistics Denmark, Kringvarp Føroya, Qinersineq

The following is the number of constituency seats for each party with each asterix (*) indicating one of the seats won was a levelling seat.^[15]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Denmark proper
	Social Democrats	924,940	26.28	47	+3
	Danish People's Party	741,746	21.08	37	+15
	Venstre	685,188	19.47	34	–13
	Red–Green Alliance	274,463	7.80	14	+2
	Liberal Alliance	265,129	7.53	13	+4
	The Alternative	168,788	4.80	9	New
	Danish Social Liberal Party	161,009	4.58	8	–9
	Socialist People's Party	147,578	4.19	7	–9
	Conservative People's Party	118,003	3.35	6	–2
	Christian Democrats	29,077	0.83	0	0
	Independents	3,066	0.09	0	0
Total		3,518,987	100.00	175	0
Valid votes		3,518,987	98.85
Invalid/blank votes		41,073	1.15
Total votes		3,560,060	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,145,105	85.89
Faroe Islands
	Republic	5,718	24.47	1	+1
	Social Democratic Party	5,670	24.27	1	0
	Union Party	5,496	23.52	0	–1
	People's Party	4,384	18.76	0	0
	Progress	744	3.18	0	New
	Centre Party	605	2.59	0	0
	Self-Government	400	1.71	0	0
	Independent	347	1.49	0	0
Total		23,364	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		23,364	99.08
Invalid/blank votes		216	0.92
Total votes		23,580	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		35,607	66.22
Greenland
	Inuit Ataqatigiit	7,914	39.17	1	0
	Siumut	7,854	38.87	1	0
	Democrats	1,852	9.17	0	0
	Atassut	1,528	7.56	0	0
	Partii Naleraq	1,058	5.24	0	New
Total		20,206	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		20,206	97.67
Invalid/blank votes		482	2.33
Total votes		20,688	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		41,048	50.40
Source: DST

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Denmark proper
	Venstre	947,725	26.73	47	+1
	Social Democrats	879,615	24.81	44	−1
	Danish People's Party	436,726	12.32	22	−3
	Danish Social Liberal Party	336,698	9.50	17	+8
	Socialist People's Party	326,192	9.20	16	−7
	Red–Green Alliance	236,860	6.68	12	+8
	Liberal Alliance	176,585	4.98	9	+4
	Conservative People's Party	175,047	4.94	8	−10
	Christian Democrats	28,070	0.79	0	0
	Independents	1,850	0.05	0	0
Total		3,545,368	100.00	175	0
Valid votes		3,545,368	99.04
Invalid/blank votes		34,307	0.96
Total votes		3,579,675	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,079,910	87.74
Faroe Islands
	Union Party	6,362	30.77	1	0
	Social Democratic Party	4,332	20.95	1	+1
	Republic	3,995	19.32	0	−1
	People's Party	3,935	19.03	0	0
	Centre Party	875	4.23	0	0
	Self-Government	483	2.34	0	0
	Independents	692	3.35	0	0
Total		20,674	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		20,674	98.62
Invalid/blank votes		290	1.38
Total votes		20,964	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		35,047	59.82
Greenland
	Inuit Ataqatigiit	9,587	42.61	1	0
	Siumut	8,374	37.22	1	0
	Democrats	2,831	12.58	0	0
	Atassut	1,706	7.58	0	0
Total		22,498	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		22,498	95.55
Invalid/blank votes		1,048	4.45
Total votes		23,546	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		40,937	57.52
Source: Danmarks Statistik

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Denmark proper
	Venstre	908,472	26.26	46	–6
	Social Democrats	881,037	25.47	45	–2
	Danish People's Party	479,532	13.86	25	+1
	Socialist People's Party	450,975	13.04	23	+12
	Conservative People's Party	359,404	10.39	18	0
	Danish Social Liberal Party	177,161	5.12	9	–8
	New Alliance	97,295	2.81	5	New
	Red–Green Alliance	74,982	2.17	4	–2
	Christian Democrats	30,013	0.87	0	0
	Independents	549	0.02	0	0
Total		3,459,420	100.00	175	0
Valid votes		3,459,420	99.31
Invalid/blank votes		24,113	0.69
Total votes		3,483,533	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,022,920	86.59
Faroe Islands
	Republic	5,849	25.36	1	0
	Union Party	5,414	23.47	1	+1
	People's Party	4,728	20.50	0	–1
	Social Democratic Party	4,702	20.39	0	0
	Centre Party	1,573	6.82	0	0
	Self-Government	799	3.46	0	0
Total		23,065	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		23,065	99.36
Invalid/blank votes		149	0.64
Total votes		23,214	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		34,529	67.23
Greenland
	Inuit Ataqatigiit	8,343	33.25	1	0
	Siumut	8,068	32.16	1	0
	Democrats	4,584	18.27	0	0
	Atassut	4,094	16.32	0	0
Total		25,089	100.00	2	0
Valid votes		25,089	98.05
Invalid/blank votes		500	1.95
Total votes		25,589	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		39,634	64.56
Source: Danmarks Statistik, Nohen & Stöver[16]

	Party	Votes	% of votes	MPs	swing	% of MPs	MPs %/votes %
	Total		100	179	0	100	1.00
	3 biggest		65.6	116	7	64.8	0.99
	The cabinet		50.5	90	5	50.3	0.98
	The opposition		49.5	89	5	49.7	1.02

• Politics of Denmark
• Cabinet of Denmark
• Electoral calendar
• Faroe election results
• Greenland election results

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Political parties and elections
• NSD: European Election Database - Denmark publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990-2007