Copenhagen, Nov 19 (EFE).– Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats won the municipal elections with 23.2 percent of the vote, five points less than the previous year but suffered a setback in Copenhagen after more than a century, according to the official count released Wednesday.
The Liberal Party came in second with 17.9 percent, 3.3 points less than the Social Democrats, but overtook them as the party with the most mayoral positions (39 to 26) and secured control of three of the four regions into which the country is divided.
The conservatives obtained 12.7 percent, 2.5 points less than before, ahead of the Socialist People’s Party, with 11.1 percent, 3.5 points more than in the previous elections of 2021.
In the capital, the Red-Green Alliance received the most votes with 22.1 percent, almost three points less, ahead of the socialists, with 17.9 percent (almost seven points more) and the social democrats, who fell 4.5 points to 12.7 percent.
Although there is still no agreement to form a government in Copenhagen, the social democratic candidate, Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, conceded defeat after not being invited by the other parties to the negotiations, which means that for the first time in 112 years a representative of her party will not govern there.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats nevertheless managed to retain control of the country’s two other major cities, Aarhus and Aalborg, although they lost representation in two of the 98 municipalities, something that had not happened since the last municipal reform in 2007.
Taking responsibility for the poor result, Frederiksen admitted early Wednesday, that the fall in support was “greater than we had expected.”
Frederiksen avoided speculating on the reasons for the electoral defeat, but rejected the notion that it was a mistake to form a government three years ago with the Liberal Party and the centrist Moderates instead of with her traditional center-left allies. EFE
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