Danish election produces inconclusive result that leaves prime
minister’s future unclear
[March 25, 2026]
By KOSTYA MANENKOV, GEIR MOULSON and JAMES BROOKS
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s election Tuesday ended in an
inconclusive result that left the prime minister’s future unclear, after
a campaign that focused on bread-and-butter issues rather than her
handling of the crisis over U.S. President Donald Trump ’s ambitions
toward Greenland.
Official results showed that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s
center-left Social Democrats lost ground compared with the last election
in 2022, as did her two partners in the outgoing government.
Neither left-leaning nor right-leaning blocs won a majority in
parliament. That left experienced Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen,
a former prime minister, in the role of kingmaker.
His centrist Moderate party, with 14 lawmakers in the 179-seat
parliament, is in a position to determine whether Frederiksen can serve
a third term at the helm of the European Union and NATO country.
Frederiksen said that she is ready to stay on as prime minister. “The
world is unsettled. There are strong winds around us,” she said.
"Denmark needs a stable government, a competent government. We are ready
to take the lead.”
Kingmaker calls on rivals to ‘come and play with us’
Løkke Rasmussen called on rivals on the left and right to climb down
from some of the positions they staked out in the campaign, and “come
and play with us.”
Denmark “is a small country of 6 million people in a world of 8 billion,
which is in upheaval — and there is war in Iran, and there is war in
Ukraine,” he said. He argued that “We are one tribe. We must come
together. We must not be divided.”
But Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, the best-placed center-right
challenger to Frederiksen, made clear that he and his Liberal party
don't intend to go into government with her Social Democrats again.
The Social Democrats remained the biggest single party by some distance,
but with 21.9% of the vote — well below the 27.5% they took in the 2022
election.
The 48-year-old Frederiksen is known for strong support of Ukraine in
its defense against Russia’s invasion and for a restrictive approach to
migration — continuing what has become a tradition in Danish politics.
Frederiksen called the election early
Frederiksen called the election in February, several months before she
had to. She apparently hoped that her resolute image in the standoff
over Trump’s push for control of Greenland, rallying European allies
behind Denmark, would help her with voters.
Her support had previously waned as the cost of living rose, something
that, along with pensions and a potential wealth tax, has been a
prominent campaign issue.
No single party had been expected to come anywhere near winning a
majority. Denmark’s system of proportional representation typically
produces coalition governments, traditionally made up of several parties
from either the “red bloc” on the left or the “blue bloc” on the right,
after weeks of negotiations.
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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks to members of her
Social Democratic Party in the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen,
Denmark, after the General Election on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP
Photo/Sergei Grits)
Frederiksen’s outgoing administration was the first in decades to
straddle the left-right divide.
Social Democrat lawmaker Morten Klessen said the outgoing government had
performed well, but that “there’s been a lot of trouble in Europe and I
think our government has had a lot of focus about Ukraine and I think we
have lost a little bit in domestic votes for that.” He argued that “we
need Mette Frederiksen in Europe for solidarity.”
Frederiksen herself said she had hoped for a better result, but it was
normal for a party seeking a third term to lose ground. She compared
Tuesday's result with the 25.9% of the vote her party took in 2019, when
she became prime minister.
“I have been in charge of this wonderful country for nearly seven
years,” she said. “We have weathered the pandemic; we have had to deal
with war. We have been threatened by the American president, and in
those nearly seven years, we have seen a four percent decline.”
Greenland wasn’t a big issue in the campaign
Greenland, which took up much of the government’s energy in recent
months, wasn’t a significant issue in the campaign because there is
broad agreement on its place in the kingdom.
Frederiksen warned in January that an American takeover of Greenland
would amount to the end of NATO. But the crisis has simmered down, at
least for now.
After Trump backed down on threats to impose tariffs on Denmark and
other European countries that opposed the U.S. taking control of the
vast Arctic island, the U.S., Denmark and Greenland started technical
talks on an Arctic security deal.
Denmark’s single-chamber parliament, the Folketing, is elected for a
four-year term. Lawmakers from Denmark hold 175 of its seats, while two
each go to representatives from thinly populated Greenland and the
kingdom’s other semiautonomous territory, the Faroe Islands.
More than 4.3 million people were eligible to vote.
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Moulson reported from Berlin.
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