Danish Folketing election, 1947

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Danish Folketing election, 1947

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←  1945 28 October 1947 1950  →
All 150 seats to the Folketing
76 seats were needed for a majority

 First partySecond partyThird party
  Hans hedtoft.jpg Knud-kristensen.jpg Blank.png
Leader Hans Hedtoft Knud Kristensen Ole Bjørn Kraft
Party Social Democrats Venstre Conservative People's
Last election48 seats, 32.8%38 seats, 23.4%26 seats, 18.2%
Seats won574917
Seat changeIncrease2.svg9Increase2.svg11Decrease2.svg9
Popular vote834,089574,895259,324
Percentage40.0%27.6%12.4%
 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  Aksel Larsen c 1959.jpg
Leader Jørgen Jørgensen Aksel Larsen Oluf Pedersen
Party Social Liberals Communists Justice
Last election11 seats, 8.4%18 seats, 12.5%3 seats, 1.9%
Seats won1096
Seat changeDecrease2.svg1Decrease2.svg9Increase2.svg3
Popular vote144,206141,09494,570
Percentage6.9%6.8%4.5%
Prime Minister before election

Knud Kristensen
Venstre

Prime Minister-elect

Hans Hedtoft
Social Democrats

Folketing elections were held in Denmark on 28 October 1947, [1] except in the Faroe Islands where they were held on 18 February 1948. The Social Democratic Party remained the largest in the Folketing, with 57 of the 150 seats. Voter turnout was 85.8% in Denmark proper and 60.1% in the Faroes. [2]

Folketing Parliament of Denmark

The Folketing, also known as the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national parliament (legislature) of Denmark. Established in 1849, until 1953 the Folketing was the lower house of a bicameral parliament, called the Rigsdag; the upper house was Landstinget. It meets in Christiansborg Palace, on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen.

Denmark constitutional monarchy in Europe

Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Nordic country and the southernmost of the Scandinavian nations. Denmark lies southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and is bordered to the south by Germany. The Kingdom of Denmark also comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark proper consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, Funen and the North Jutlandic Island. The islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. Denmark has a total area of 42,924 km2 (16,573 sq mi), land area of 42,394 km2 (16,368 sq mi), and the total area including Greenland and the Faroe Islands is 2,210,579 km2 (853,509 sq mi), and a population of 5.8 million.

Faroe Islands Autonomus constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark

The Faroe Islands, or the Faeroe Islands—a North Atlantic archipelago located 200 miles (320 km) north-northwest of the United Kingdom and about halfway between Norway and Iceland—are an autonomous country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Total area is about 1,400 square kilometres (540 sq mi) with a population of 50,322 in October 2017.

Contents

Electoral system changes

Following legislation in December 1947 the representation of the Faroe Islands constituency was increased from one seat to two. [3] The two seats were elected using proportional representation with the D'Hondt method. [3]

Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.

The D'Hondt method or the Jefferson method is a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. The method described is named in the United States after Thomas Jefferson, who introduced the method for proportional allocation of seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1791, and in Europe after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, who described it in 1878 for proportional allocation of parliamentary seats to the parties. There are two forms: closed list and an open list.

Results

Denmark

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Social Democratic Party 834,08940.057+9
Venstre 529,06625.446+8
Conservative People's Party 259,32412.417–9
Danish Social Liberal Party 144,2066.910–1
Communist Party of Denmark 141,0946.89–9
Justice Party of Denmark 94,5704.56+3
Capital Venstre [a] 45,8292.23New
Danish Unity 24,7241.20–4
Schleswig Party 7,4640.40New
Independents3,7750.200
Invalid/blank votes4,874–––
Total2,089,0151001480
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

a The Copenhagen branch of Venstre ran as a separate party in order to exploit the electoral law and was able to win compensatory seats. Following the election the other parties grouped together to push for changes to the system which were passed in 1948. [4]

Popular vote
A
 
40.02%
D
 
27.58%
C
 
12.44%
B
 
6.92%
K
 
6.77%
E
 
4.54%
R
 
1.19%
Others
 
0.54%

Faroe Islands

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
People's Party 4,13542.710
Union Party 2,75428.41+1
Social Democratic Party 1,99020.500
Self-Government Party 8098.400
Invalid/blank votes34–––
Total9,7221002+1
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

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References

  1. ↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p524 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p540
  3. 1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, p541
  4. ↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p506
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