Denmark: Frederiksen to Return as PM After Weeks of Govt Formation Talks | Race To Power

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]All right, with that let's shift our focus now to Denmark where the Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is set to return for a third term. Remember this comes over 2 months after the Danish general elections delivered a mixed mandate. Frederiksen has announced that she will be forming a center-left coalition government. Her party, the Social Democrats, has allied with three others. The coalition will also have outside support from several smaller parties so that it can cross the majority mark in the parliament.

[00:00:30]Denmark, remember, went to polls on the 24th of March this year. All 179 seats in its unicameral legislature were up for grabs. 175 of these seats are from Denmark. Greenland and the Faroe Islands contribute two parliamentarians each, so the majority mark is 90 out of 179.

[00:00:51]Now, Denmark follows a proportional representation system, which makes it highly unlikely for any party to secure a majority on its own.

[00:01:01]Frederiksen's Social Democrats won the most seats in the election. It was the largest party with 38 seats, but this was still 12 lower than in the previous election in 2022.

[00:01:13]And the dip came despite Frederiksen benefiting politically from taking on US President Donald Trump on the issue of Greenland.

[00:01:22]In January, Frederiksen stood up to Trump as the American president kept saying that he wanted to take Greenland.

[00:01:30]Now, Greenland is an autonomous territory, but it's part of Denmark.

[00:01:33]Frederiksen went on a diplomatic tour across Europe rallying support to maintain status quo. She also flew down to Greenland to reassure the residents of the island.

[00:01:48]>> It is a serious situation we are in.

[00:01:50]Everyone can see that. Now, there is a diplomatic political track that we are going to prepare, and that is what we are going to talk about.

[00:02:02]>> Frederiksen won plaudits for standing up to Trump, and the boost in popularity led to her calling for early elections.

[00:02:10]But, despite the boost, other issues such as the economy, the cost of living, and immigration led to her party losing seats in the election.

[00:02:19]>> Some she have done well, and then then when it comes to the after things, she had problems because she can't continue to She's a good crisis crisis prime minister, very good crisis. But, when the crisis is left, she have issues there also, and she's not so good to bring it down to the level where everybody, the noble people, had their problem.

[00:02:46]>> For the set of weeks of alliance talks, Frederiksen's erstwhile coalition partner, the Moderate Party, flip-flopped between her new left-wing alliance and a grouping of right-wing parties. But, now, finally, after over 2 months of deadlock and three separate rounds of negotiations, Frederiksen has secured her comeback.