\n Danes are voting in general elections on Tuesday, with left-leaning Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen seen as the favourite after standing up to United States’ President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland. <\/p>\n
Issued on: 24\/03\/2026 – 11:38<\/p>\n
3 min Reading time\n<\/p>\n
The latest polls give the left-wing bloc, for which Frederiksen is the self-proclaimed candidate, a nine-seat lead over the right-wing bloc, but neither side is projected to win a majority of the 179 seats in Denmark<\/a>‘s parliament, the Folketing.<\/p>\n Frederiksen, a Social Democrat who has been in office since 2019, has been praised for her leadership after fending off Trump’s repeated demands to annex Greenland<\/a>, a Danish autonomous territory he claims the United States<\/a> needs for national security reasons.<\/p>\n “The alternatives [to Mette Frederiksen] are worse,” 24-year-old student Freja Strandlod told French news agency AFP just after casting her vote in central Copenhagen.<\/p>\n “People may not really like her, but they see her as the right leader,” Elisabet Svane, political analyst at Danish newspaper Politiken, told AFP.<\/p>\n Anxiety over security <\/p>\n Frederiksen<\/a>, who had “a prime minister you can count on” as one of her campaign slogans “is a unifying figure in a world full of insecurity, and Danes are quite anxious\u00a0\u2013 there’s Greenland, Ukraine, (and mystery) drones” that flew over the Scandinavian country last year, the Svane said.<\/p>\n In addition, “it’s hard to imagine a right-wing government because it would have to unite such a broad swath, from the far right to the more centrist parties, which are not on very good terms with the far right,” said Ole Waever, a political science professor at the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n The four overseas seats held by Denmark’s two autonomous territories\u00a0\u2013 two for Greenland and two for the Faroe Islands\u00a0\u2013 could tip the balance if the election result is very close.<\/p>\n The centrist Moderate party, led by Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, a two-time former prime minister, could also prove decisive if things go down to the wire.<\/p>\n Macron hosts Denmark and Greenland leaders in show of European unity<\/a><\/p>\n In Greenland’s capital Nuuk, the campaign has generated more interest than usual, with more than 20 candidates standing.<\/p>\n “I think this election will kind of show us the direction going forward,” said Juno Berthelsen, a member of Greenland’s local parliament and leader of the Naleraq party, which wants to cut ties with Denmark as soon as possible.<\/p>\n Several of the party’s members have met with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Greenland’s main political parties<\/a> all want independence from Denmark, but Naleraq’s rivals favour a more measured process.<\/p>\n Greenland’s Business<\/a> Minister Naaja Nathanielsen, a candidate for the left-wing IA party, said fear of the United States had been central to the campaign in Greenland.<\/p>\n “Due to the fact that the US has shown such aggression, you would find a bigger interest in really trying to push the Greenlandic narrative in the Danish parliament,” she said.<\/p>\n Comeback for populist parties\u00a0 <\/p>\n In metropolitan Denmark, the row over the vast Arctic<\/a> island has however not been central in the campaign.<\/p>\n In the wealthy nation of six million people, the campaign has instead focused on domestic issues, including inflation, the welfare state and high nitrate levels in water from agriculture.<\/p>\n “During the campaign, there weren’t really any key issues for me. I focused on climate policy and looked at the different parties to find the most pragmatic solution,” said William, a 26-year-old trainee lawyer who did not want to give his last name.<\/p>\n In a country where the far right has heavily influenced policy since the late 1990s, immigration<\/a> has also been a hot topic, with the Social Democrats advocating even tighter regulations.<\/p>\n