How do the Social Democrats come back from local election rout?

Next year set to test PM Frederiksen after awful local elections

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democratic party has been left reeling after local elections that went even worse than the party had feared.

Commentators are now full of bleak predictions for the party’s immediate future, regardless of whether it sticks with the coalition government or attempts to break back towards its more traditional allies on the left with next year’s parliamentary elections looking a daunting prospect.

The headline result on Tuesday may have been in Copenhagen Municipality, where it is no longer in the mayor’s seat after an unbroken century of power in the city council.

But this result had been telegraphed by polls well before the voting and was only symptomatic of a very poor election for the party across the country.

The Social Democrats won just 12.7 percent of votes in Copenhagen, down three percentage points from the previous local elections in 2021 and far behind the Red-Green Alliance’s (Enhedslisten) 22.1 percent and the Socialist People’s Party’s (SF) 17.9 percent.

The party meanwhile now controls just 26 of Denmark’s 98 municipalities, down from 44 prior to the elections.

READ ALSO: Four key things to know about Denmark’s 2025 local election results

That makes them no longer Denmark’s largest party in terms of local representation, with the centre-right Liberal (Venstre) party having gained more mayor’s seats.

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In terms of vote share, the Social Democrats remain the largest party but their 23.2 percent share of the vote is a decline of 5.2 percent since 2021.

Frederiksen’s initial response to the local election collapse was to acknowledge her  “responsibility” for the result, which puts serious pressure on her ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.

“We expected to lose some support but it looks as if the loss is larger than expected, and that is obviously not good. There could be many explanations,” she said according to news wire Ritzau.

“It’s becoming increasingly hard to be the main Danish people’s party, which is inclusive to all Danes. We will closely consider in the coming days what might be behind this,” she told party supporters.

By Thursday, she was being forced to respond to journalists asking whether she planned to resign.

“It is true that we lost ground in this local election, but we made gains in the last general election,” she said, although this omits the fact that the Social Democrats also lost in last year’s EU elections, when centre-left party SF gained more seats in Brussels.

“I have no plans to resign,” she said.

“In the end, I am responsible for how the Social Democrats are doing, both when things go well and when they go badly,” the PM also admitted.

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The media did not go lightly on either Frederiksen, her party or the coalition government.

Newspaper Politiken questioned in an editorial whether the Social Democrats can win another election with Frederiksen in charge.

“If Tuesday’s local election was a prologue to the general election which will be called next year, a new Social Democratic downturn awaits for the whole government project,” Politiken wrote in reference to the unusual centrist coalition, which also includes the Liberals – traditionally a rival to the Social Democrats for the prime minister’s post.

A loss of support as severe as that seen on Tuesday would make any continuation of the coalition completely untenable, which could push the Liberals back towards the right wing.

On the other hand, moving back towards its allies on the left would also only result in defeat unless Frederiksen can find some way to turn the tide over the next year, Information said.

The broadsheet paper used particularly strong terms, calling the coalition “an elite-populist monstrosity that has turned a red majority in parliament into possible blue momentum.”

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This references the fact that the left-of-centre parties commanded a majority after the 2022 election, but the government chose instead to govern with the right-centre Liberals and centrist Moderates.

Notwithstanding the substantial policy differences that now exist between the Social Democrats and parties like SF and the Red Green Alliance, notably on immigration, the chances of an overall majority for the left in 2026 parliamentary elections would be minimal if the government party continues its decline. 

“That is why the revenge [for the left wing] will be sweet today, but empty tomorrow,” Information wrote.

“The Social Democrats’ decline in itself solves no problems for the left wing,” it said.

“And if the Social Democrats do not find a way out of the centrist government, their crisis will continue to be the left wing’s crisis,” it concluded.