ELECTION, WHY DO METTE FREDERIKSEN STEP DOWN

ELECTION, WHY DO METTE FREDERIKSEN STEP DOWN

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Associated Press
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STORY

​The day after the election did Mette Frederiksen and all 12 party leaders in Denmark  meet in the Publicist Club and  Mette Frederiksen was heard saying to the press:
“I simply have so much respect for the democracy. It’s all about cooperation” .

Despite finishing first in Denmark’s election, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stepped down along with her Social Democratic (Social Demokratiet) government Wednesday in an attempt to build a broader coalition across the political divide.

The reason why she stepped down in spite having the red majority explains Morten Høyer, expert in politics for The Danish Industry Association:
“The call for the general election was actually made by another party (ref. the red Social Liberals – Radikale Venstre).

Denmark got 12 elected parties and they go together in coalition-groups. Mette Frederiksen was governing with support from a coalition group of red parties among  The Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre). They could not support continuing as a red supported government only, but also wanted support from the blue and more liberal parties. 

Morten Høyer, expert continuous: “Well, she had a very good election with the Social Democratic Party, but unfortunately, she just does not have the necessary mandates behind her. So she resigned and told the Queen that she may seek a new mandate to form a new government.”

The parties go to the Queen – called Dronninge runden (The Queens Round) one by one and tell who they think should lead the negotiations forming a new government. The Queen then tells the leader with the most parties supporting, in this case Mette Frederiksen.

“Usually it takes about 14 days or something to form a new government”, explains Morten Hoyer, expert DI.

“I think that Mette Frederiksen has a fair chance to become prime minister again”, continuous Morten Hoyer, expert DI. 

The differences between the parties one-by-one looking from left to right are often very small. It is often specific subjects that separates the parties.  

“If foreigners look at us, they think we are insane, 12 parties that have to form some kind of majority. I think Mette Frederiksen will probably make a new government again.” says Morten Høyer and continues “Still, a lot of things can happen.”

. see further background story by Jan Olsen AP below after shotlist.

END

SHOT

  • METTE FREDERIKSEN TALKS TO THE PRESS WHILE WALKING AWAY FROM THE PUBLICIST CLUB.
    METTE FREDERIKSEN, PRIME MINISTER DENMARK:
    “Jeg har simpelthen så utrolig stor respekt for demokratiet, Det handler om at samarbejde”
    TRANSLATION
    “I simply have so much respect for the democracy. It’s all about cooperation” 
  • SOUNDBITE Morten Høyer, expert politics. Danish Industry. DI:
    “The call for general election was actually made by another party, which is kind of a rare thing in Denmark. They said they don’t have the necessary trust in the current government.” 
  • OUTSIDE OF DANISH INDUSTRY BUILDING
  • SOUNDBITE Morten Høyer, expert politics. Danish Industry. DI:
    “Well, she had a very good election with the Social Democratic Party, but unfortunately, she just does not have the necessary mandates behind her. So she resigned and told the Queen that she may seek a new mandate to form a new government.”
  • INSIDE DANISH INDUSTRY BUILDING
  • SOUNDBITE Morten Høyer, expert politics. Danish Industry.:
    “Usually it takes about 14 days or something to form a new government. So I mean, the situation is a bit more awkward this time. So maybe yeah, three, four weeks.”
  • PEOPLE WALKING BY WITH COPENHAGEN TOWN HALL IN THE BACKGROUND
  • SOUNDBITE Morten Hoyer, expert politics. Danish Industry.:
    “I think that Mette Frederiksen has a fair chance to become prime minister again. She kind of had a very good election”
  • OUTSIDE DANISH INDUSTRY BUILDING
  • SOUNDBITE Morten Hoyer, expert politics. Danish Industry.:
    “If foreigners look at us they think we are insane. 12 parties that had to have to form some kind of majority. I think the way that the election went, there is this center left majority. I think Mette Frederiksen will probably make a new government again. But, you know, in Danish politics, it’s 12 parties. Still, a lot of things can happen.”
  • SOFIE CARSTEN NIELSEN TALKS TO PRESS
    “Nej det her handler om det politiske indhold og hvad vi kan blive enige om, det handler ikke om at udelukke nogen. Så det kommer vi ikke til”
    (TRANSLATION
    “No, this is about the political content and what we can agree on, it’s not about excluding anyone. So we won’t be doing that”
  • LARS LØKKE RASMUSSEN TALKS TO PRESS
    “Man må anke om at øge velfærdsudgifterne, men må træde hvis der ikke er nogen der tager et fælles ansvar for også at skaffe pengene; og det er jo det en regering hen over midten ville kunne gøre”
    (TRANSLATION
    “You have to appeal to increase welfare spending, but you have to step in if there is no one who takes joint responsibility for also getting the money; and that is what a government across the middle would be able to do”)
  • PEOPLE WALKING BY OUTSIDE OF THE DANISH INDUSTRY BUILDING

END

STORY cont. by Jan Olsen:

Despite finishing first in Denmark’s election, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen decided to step down along with her Social Democratic government Wednesday in an attempt to build a broader coalition across the political divide.

Frederiksen’s announcement came after a dramatic vote count in which the center-left bloc that has backed her since 2019 retained its majority in Parliament by a single seat.

In theory, the 44-year-old Social Democratic leader could have stayed in power as head of a minority government. But she said she would stick to promises made before Tuesday’s election to try to form a wider governing coalition that includes parties on the center-right.

”I am happy, proud, and grateful,” Frederiksen said. “It has been a very difficult few years to be prime minister: first the pandemic, now inflation. A lot indicated that a sitting government would not achieve reelection.”

Frederiksen handed her resignation Wednesday to Queen Margrethe, Denmark’s figurehead monarch. Frederiksen will remain as prime minister in a caretaking capacity until a new government is formed.

Frederiksen called the election last month amid fallout from her government’s contentious decision to cull millions of minks as a pandemic response measure. The cull and chilling images of mass graves of minks have haunted Frederiksen since 2020 and eventually led to cracks in the center-left bloc.

On Tuesday, the Social Democrats won 28% of the vote, or 50 seats in the 179-member Danish Parliament. Exit polls and early results had suggested the center-left parties together would not gather the 90 seats needed for a majority. They were one seat short until the very end of the ballot count, when the decisive seat flipped.

Before that, former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen appeared set to become kingmaker. His newly formed Moderate party won 9% of the vote for 16 seats, according to a preliminary count of all ballots. Election turnout was 84,1%, according to official figures. 

Løkke Rasmussen, a two-time government leader who lost the 2019 election to Frederiksen and abandoned the center-right Liberal party following an internal power struggle, said he would support Frederiksen’s attempt to form a government, but not necessarily with her as prime minister.

“I know for sure that Denmark needs a new government,“ he told jubilant supporters in Copenhagen. “Who is going to sit at the end of the table? We do not know.”

Election results from Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory which has two seats in the legislature, confirmed early Wednesday that the center-left bloc would have a one-seat majority in Parliament.

Some of Frederiksen’s former partners expressed disappointment that she opted to seek a broader coalition rather than continue to govern with support from the center-left. Troels Bøggild, an associate professor of political science at Aarhus University in western Denmark, said Frederiksen now has two options for forming a new government.

“Either go with the Moderates (at the center) and the Liberals, and if that fails, she can crawl back to the red bloc and form a government there,” he said. “By resigning, she shows that her election promises to build a broad center government are serious.”

Frederiksen said a broad coalition would be better placed to face major challenges such as inflation, climate change and shortcomings in the public health care system.

Before the election, opposition leaders Jakob Ellemann-Jensen of the Liberals and Søren Pape Poulsen of the Conservatives dismissed the idea of joining forces with Frederiksen, saying they aimed to form a center-right government. The center-right bloc won 73 seats, well short of a majority, after a poor showing by the Liberals.

Frederiksen, who became Denmark’s youngest prime minister when she took office in 2019 at age 41, teamed up with the opposition to increase NATO-member Denmark’s defense spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Her steadfast leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic was partly overshadowed by the mink-culling episode.

The decision to slaughter up to 17 million minks to protect humans from a mutation of the coronavirus was taken in haste and without the required legislation in place. It dealt a devastating blow to Danish mink farmers, even though there was no evidence the mutated virus found among some minks was more dangerous than other strains.