The Christian Democrats (Danish: Kristendemokraterne, KD) are a political party in Denmark. The party was founded in April 1970 as the Christian People's Party (Danish: Kristeligt Folkeparti, KrF)[3] to oppose the liberalization of restrictions on pornography and the legalization of abortion.[4][5] The party renamed itself to its current name in 2003.[3] Originally, the party was not considered part of the European Christian-democratic tradition, and it was better known as a religious conservative party.[6]
The party was formed in 1970.[7] Since its inception, the party has enjoyed an intermittent presence in the Parliament of Denmark, rarely winning much more than the two percent minimum required to gain seats under Denmark's proportional representation system, and frequently falling below the threshold, as has happened in every election from the 2005 parliamentary election onwards. Despite its small size, the party has served in a number of coalition governments. From 1982 to 1988, it was in coalition with the Liberal Party, Conservative People's Party and Centre Democrats; from 1993 to 1994, it served in government with the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals and the Centre Democrats.[5]
From 2002 to 2005, the party was led by Marianne Karlsmose.[8] The name of the party was changed to the Christian Democrats in 2003. In October 2005, the party elected Bodil Kornbek as its new chairman.[9] Her attempt to introduce a more secular centre-left profile had some success in the beginning, but the party once again failed to win seats in the 2007 elections. In October 2008, Kornbek was replaced by Bjarne Hartung Kirkegaard from its more conservative and religious wing.[10]
In 2010, the Christian Democrats regained parliamentary representation when the Independent former Conservative MP Per Ørum Jørgensen joined the party.[11] Since he was not formerly known for having expressed opinions based on Christianity, these events once more softened the religious character of the party.
On 30 June 2011, it was announced that the Christian Democrats had started cooperating with Fælleslisten, a single-issue party fighting for decentralization, especially in health care policy,[12] with some success in regional and local elections. This means that candidates from the two parties appeared on a joint list at the 2011 Danish parliamentary election. The Christian Democrats had themselves taken a somewhat regionalist stance at a moment when Fælleslisten had surged in opinion polls.
In September 2012, Per Ørum Jørgensen resigned and subsequently left the party altogether in order to form a new party called the Democratic Party.[13]Egon Jakobsen was appointed as interim chairman, and on 27 October 2012, the former deputy chairman Stig Grenov was elected as new chairman.
The 2015 general election marked the first election with Stig Grenov as chairman. Although Grenov managed to make his mark during the campaign, it only resulted in slightly over 1000 more votes than four years earlier.[14]
The municipal and regional elections of 2017 saw a slight increase for the party, with the number of elected municipal council members rising from six to nine. Former national chairman Marianne Karlsmose was elected as a member of the regional council in the Central Denmark Region. However, the party failed to secure a mayor's position in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality.[15]
Six days prior to the 2019 general election, Stig Grenov took temporary leave from his position as party chairman due to stress.[16] Vice-chair Isabella Arendt stepped in as acting party chairman, initially for a month, but Grenov's leave was subsequently extended until the party's congress in October 2019, where Isabella Arendt formally became the new chairman.[17]
Despite more than doubling the number of votes from 2015, the party was not represented in the Danish Parliament in the 2019 election. Less than 200 votes separated the party from securing a constituency mandate in West Jutland.[18]
In 2021, Jens Rohde joined the party, resulting in its representation in the Folketing once again.[19]
For the party, 2022 was characterized by several prominent figures retiring from national politics. In January, Kristian Andersen, the party's top vote-getter in the West Jutland constituency, announced that he would not run for the next parliament; the same was announced by Jens Rohde in May. Less than two weeks later, Isabella Arendt resigned from the chairmanship and left the party.[20] Marianne Karlsmose then assumed the role of acting national chairman, and in October, she was officially elected as chairman without any opposing candidates.[21] In the general election on November 1, the Christian Democrats received 0,5% of the votes and thus did not enter the Folketing.[22][23] On November 12, Karlsmose resigned from the chairman position.[24] Instead of electing a new chairman, the party's executive committee agreed to have Karlsmose replaced by organizational and political vice-chairmen, Jesper Housgaard and Henrik Hjortshøj, respectively, until the party's annual meeting in 2023. However, an extraordinary congress was held in March 2023, where Jeppe Hedaa was elected as the new national chairman.[25]
Madeley, John T.S. (2004). "Life at the Northern Margin: Christian Democracy in Scandinavia". In Steven Van Hecke; Emmanuel Gerard (eds.). Christian Democratic Parties in Europe Since the End of the Cold War. Leuven University Press. pp.217–241. ISBN90-5867-377-4.
The Folketing, also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Established in 1849, until 1953 the Folketing was the lower house of a bicameral parliament, called the Rigsdag; the upper house was the Landsting. It meets in Christiansborg Palace, on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen.
Marianne Karlsmose is a Danish politician who was leader of the party the Christian Democrats from 2002 to 2005 and again in 2022.
Jeppe Sebastian Kofod is a former Danish politician of the Social Democratic Party who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark between 27 June 2019 to 15 December 2022.
Jens Rohde is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Christian Democrats political party. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2014 until 2019, as a member of the Danish Social Liberal Party, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. He is currently a member of the Christian Democrats.
Uffe Elbæk is a Danish politician, social worker, author, journalist, entrepreneur. In 2013 he founded the green political party The Alternative, which he led until February 2020. He is an independent member of the Folketing.
General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 5 June 2019 to elect all 179 members of the Folketing; 175 in Denmark proper, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. The elections took place ten days after the European Parliament elections.
Stig Grenov is a Danish teacher and politician. On 27 October 2012 he was elected the chairman for the Christian Democrats, with no opposing candidates. He stepped down in 2019 and Isabella Arendt became the party's new leader.
Egon Jakobsen is a Danish politician. He has been a part of Christian Democrats since 1973. After Per Ørum Jørgensen was fired as chairman by the members of the party in September 2012, Egon Jakobsen stepped up as ad interim chairman, being the deputy chairman at the time. In October 2012, Stig Grenov was elected as chairman for the party, and Jakobsen continued as deputy chairman.
Isabella Arendt Laursen is a Danish politician who was the leader of the Christian Democrats from 2019 to 2022. Arendt lives in Copenhagen and is currently studying political science at Copenhagen University.
Nye Borgerlige is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. Formed by Pernille Vermund and Peter Seier Christensen in 2015, it first entered the Folketing in 2019 with four seats and again in 2022 with six. After three defections in the first months after the election, by March 2023 the party's number of seats in the Folketing was reduced to three.
General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 1 November 2022, except in the Faroe Islands, where they were held on 31 October as 1 November was a national day of mourning for victims at sea. Of the 179 members of the Folketing, 175 were elected in Denmark proper, two in the Faroes and two in Greenland. The elections were called on 5 October following an ultimatum to the government by the Social Liberals due to the outcome of a report on the 2020 Danish mink cull by the Mink Commission, which was critical of the government. Voter turnout was 84% in Denmark, 48% in Greenland, and 71% in the Faroes, with a combined turnout of 84% for the realm as a whole.
Alex Dominique Kristensen Vanopslagh is a French-born Danish politician. He is a member of the Folketing, and party leader of the Liberal Alliance. He is a former chairman of its youth wing, Liberal Alliance Youth.
Ann Pernille Vermund Bretton-Meyer is a Danish architect (MAA) and politician, being a member of the Folketing since 2019. She is known for co-founding and being the leader of the national-conservative political party Nye Borgerlige from its founding in 2015 until February 2023 and again from October 2023 to January 2024. On 10 January 2024, she surprisingly announced that she had left Nye Borgerlige, recommending its dissolution. A week later, she joined the parliamentary group of the Liberal Alliance.
Jakob Ellemann-Jensen is a Danish former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark and Minister of Defence under Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen from 2022 to 2023. He led the Venstre party from 2019 to 2023.
The Independent Greens – Denmark's New Left-Wing Party, or simply the Independent Greens (Q), is a left-wing political party in Denmark. It was founded 7 September 2020 by four former members of The Alternative: Sikandar Siddique, Uffe Elbæk, and Susanne Zimmer, who were members of the Danish parliament, and Niko Grünfeld, member of Copenhagen City Council. The party leader is Sikandar Siddique. Elbæk was founder and leader of The Alternative from 2013 to 2020.
Mette Thiesen is a Danish politician and former schoolteacher who has been a member of the Folketing since June 2019, at first representing the Nye Borgerlige political party, but from November 2022 being an independent, and from February 2023 representing the Danish People's Party.
Lars Boje Mathiesenda is a Danish politician who has been an independent member of the Danish Parliament, the Folketing, since March 2023. Previously a member of the Nye Borgerlige political party before his expulsion in 2023, he was first elected to the Folketing at the 2019 general election for the Nye Borgerlige and again at the 2022 general election.
The Frederiksen II Cabinet is the current Government of Denmark, which took office on 15 December 2022. It succeeded the Frederiksen I Cabinet following the 2022 general election.
Events in the year 2023 in Denmark.
References
↑ Hoffmann-Hansen, Henrik; Nilsson, Simone; Jespersen, Johan Storgaard; Krasnik, Benjamin; Fabricius, Kitte; Schmidt, Mara Malene Raun; Gosmann, Mie Borggreen Winther og Sara Mathilde (2022-10-03). "Overblik: Partierne i Danmark". Kristeligt Dagblad (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-01-04.
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