DENMARK’S SOCIAL DEMOCRAT prime minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday she had managed to form a left-leaning minority coalition government following months of talks after inconclusive elections in March.
Her Social Democrats posted their lowest election score since 1903 in March but still came out on top, and after months of negotiations the 48-year-old said she had agreed on a left-leaning coalition cabinet with three other parties.
“A government was able to be formed, after long negotiations,” she told reporters after meeting with the country’s King Frederik X.
A statement from the palace said the coalition would consist of Frederiksen’s Social Democrats, the Socialist People’s Party, the centre-left Radikale Venstre and the centrist Moderates.
It marks a third term for Frederiksen (48), who in January stood up to US President Donald Trump against his threats to take over Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.
Frederiksen said she would present her political programme on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the new cabinet.
Neither the left nor the right bloc won a majority in the 24 March election, which left parliament splintered.
The four parties in the new coalition between them hold 82 of the 179 seats in parliament. Media reported that a separate alliance of leftists and greens could support the coalition.
“I think everyone will be surprised to see how determined we are,” said Frederiksen.
“Our programme for government is good for people now living in Denmark and for future generations alike, as well as for animals,” she added, following an election campaign dominated by the issue of industrial pork farming, a highly polluting but booming industry in the country.
In the election, her Social Democrats registered their weakest score since 1903 but remained the biggest party by far, with 38 seats.
After the vote, initial talks led by Frederiksen and later efforts headed by the liberal Venstre party had each failed to strike an agreement, before the king reappointed the premier for a further attempt.
In the election, the traditional far-right party, the Danish People’s Party, more than tripled its result to 9% of votes.
It has heavily influenced policy since the late 1990s but slumped in the 2022 election.
The three anti-immigration groups together garnered 17%, a stable figure for Denmark’s populist right over the past two decades.