The king of Denmark late Friday charged Deputy Prime Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, leader of the center-right Venstre party, with trying to form the next government after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen failed to build a new coalition.
After a near deadlock in Denmark’s March 24 election, Frederiksen has been leading coalition negotiations in a bid to secure what would be her third term in office. Frederiksen’s Social Democrats secured the most votes in the parliamentary election, but the party fell far short of a majority in the Folketing, the Danish parliament.
Denmark’s royal household issued a statement Friday night announcing that King Frederik X “has requested the Chairman of the Liberal Party, Troels Lund Poulsen, to lead negotiations on the formation of a government that does not involve the participation of the Social Democrats and the Moderates.”
Frederiksen on Friday evening acknowledged the risk she might lose her post, telling the press: “The Danes gave the Social Democrats a worse election result and have composed the Folketing in such a way that a center-right government could well be formed — it may well be that this is the beginning of that.”