Danish general election, 2005

Danish general election, 2005
All 179 seats to the Folketing ; 90 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	84.4%
Prime Minister before election; Anders Fogh Rasmussen ; Venstre	PM-elect; Anders Fogh Rasmussen ; Venstre

Last updated March 23, 2019

General elections were held in Denmark on 8 February 2005.^[1] Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Venstre retained the largest number of seats in parliament. The governing coalition between the Venstre and the Conservative People's Party remained intact, with the Danish People's Party providing the parliamentary support needed for the minority government. The Danish Social Liberal Party made the biggest gains of any party, although it remains outside the governing group of parties. The election marked the second time in a row that the Social Democrats were not the largest party in the parliament, a change from most of the 20th century. The party lost 5 seats and leader Mogens Lykketoft resigned immediately after the election.

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.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen is a Danish politician who was the 24th Prime Minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the 12th Secretary General of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He is now CEO of political consultancy Rasmussen Global and a senior advisor at The Boston Consulting Group's Copenhagen office.

Venstre, full name Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti, is a conservative-liberal, agrarian political party in Denmark. Founded as part of a peasants' movement against the landed aristocracy, today it espouses an economically liberal pro-free market ideology.

The prime minister called the elections on 18 January. He claimed that he would have called it earlier, but the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake which killed a number of Danes delayed it. Rasmussen still had almost a year left in his term, but said he wanted to call the election before municipal elections in November. His reasoning was that he wanted a clear mandate for the municipal and county government restructuring that his government was implementing.

From the last election the governing coalition of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party had 94 of the 175 seats together with the supporting Danish People's Party. This number was unchanged after the 2005 election. Voter turnout was 84.5% in Denmark proper, 73.0% in the Faroe Islands and 59.4% in Greenland.^[2]

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.

Greenland is an autonomous constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, gradually settling across the island.

Results

Denmark proper
Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Venstre	974,636	29.0	52	–4
Social Democratic Party	867,349	25.8	47	–5
Danish People's Party	444,947	13.3	24	+2
Conservative People's Party	344,886	10.3	18	+2
Danish Social Liberal Party	308,212	9.2	17	+8
Socialist People's Party	201,047	6.0	11	–1
Red-Green Alliance	114,123	3.4	6	+2
Christian Democrats	58,071	1.7	0	–4
Centre Democrats	33,880	1.0	0	±0
Minority Party	8,850	0.3	0	New
Independents	1,211	0.0	0	±0
Invalid/blank votes	27,348	–	–	–
Total	3,384,560	100	175	0
Faroe Islands
Republican Party	6,301	25.4	1	±0
People's Party	5,967	24.0	1	+1
Social Democratic Party	5,518	22.2	0	±0
Union Party	5,333	21.5	0	–1
Centre Party	829	3.3	0	New
Self-Government Party	585	2.4	0	±0
Independents	309	1.2	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	94	–	–	–
Total	24,936	100	2	0
Greenland
Siumut	7,761	34.3	1	±0
Inuit Ataqatigiit	5,774	25.5	1	0
Democrats	4,909	21.7	0	New
Atassut	3,374	14.9	0	±0
Independents	841	3.7	0	±0
Invalid/blank votes	457	–	–	–
Total	23,516	100	2	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular vote

V			29.03%
A			25.84%
O			13.25%
C			10.27%
B			9.18%
F			5.99%
Ø			3.40%
K			1.73%
D			1.01%
Others			0.30%

63 out of the 179 members of the new folketing are newly elected. Although women make up 38% of the total, several women hold prominent positions, notably Pia Kjærsgaard, leader of the third largest party, Danish People's Party. Marianne Jelved (leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party), Connie Hedegaard (Minister of the Environment), Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil (front figure of Enhedslisten) and Helle Thorning-Schmidt (later elected as leader of Social Democrats) are other important woman in the parliament. A couple of parties, including the Social Democrats are holding leadership races, which may be won by women. 9 of the top 20 candidates, in terms of personal votes, were women.

Pia Merete Kjærsgaard is a Danish politician who has been Speaker of the Danish Parliament since 2015.

The Danish People's Party (DPP) is a political party in Denmark which is generally described as right-wing populist by academics and far-right by international media. It has also been described in academia and the media as a nativist and anti-immigrant party. The party was founded in 1995 by Pia Kjærsgaard, who was the leader of the party until 2012, when she passed the leadership on to Kristian Thulesen Dahl. The DPP lent its support to the Liberal-Conservative government from the general election of 2001 until the 2011 election defeat. While not part of the cabinet, DPP cooperated closely with the governing coalition on most issues and received support for key political stances in return, to the point that the government was commonly referred to as the "VKO-government".

Marianne Bruus Jelved née Hirsbro is a Danish politician, and is educated as a teacher and in the theory of education. She worked as an undergrade teacher for 22 years, and has taught teaching for about 10 years.

Following the election, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen reformed his liberal-conservative cabinet as the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen II with parliamentary support from Danish People's Party.

Platforms

Venstre, the party of the prime minister, campaigned on their municipal restructuring plan, as well as a continuation of the "tax-freeze" and tight immigration requirements. They also promised to see 60,000 jobs created during a second term.

The largest opposition party, the Social Democrats led by Mogens Lykketoft focused on employment, which they claim has decreased under the current government.

The Danish People's Party, who support the Venstre-Conservative coalition, criticized the "tax-freeze" but agreed, conditionally, to support it for another parliamentary term. They also wanted increasingly tough immigration restrictions.

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The Prime Minister of Denmark is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark. Before the creation of the modern office, Denmark did not initially have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the Monarch, in whom the executive authority was vested. The Constitution of 1849 established a constitutional monarchy by limiting the powers of the Monarch and creating the office of premierminister. The inaugural holder of the office was Adam Wilhelm Moltke.

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References

↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p525 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p550

External links

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[DN-1] Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p525 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

[2] Nohlen & Stöver, p550

v t e Elections and referendums in Denmark
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v t e Elections and referendums in the Faroe Islands
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See also: Elections and referendums in Denmark

v t e Elections and referendums in Greenland
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See also: Elections and referendums in Denmark Elections and referendums in the Faroe Islands