DENMARK

LAST ELECTIONS

Also available: Archive of past election results for this chamber

Chamber:

Folketinget

Dates of election / renewal (from/to):

13 November 2007

Purpose of elections:

Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament following the early dissolution of this body in October 2007. General elections had previously been held in February 2005.

Background and outcome of elections:

On 24 October 2007, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called early elections to the 179-member Danish Parliament (Folketing) for 13 November, ahead of the official end of the four-year term in February 2009.

Mr. Rasmussen has led the centre-right coalition government since 2001. It comprises his Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Conservative People's Party, and has the support of the Danish People's Party.

In the previous elections held in February 2005, the coalition won a total of 70 seats of the 175 members elected from Denmark (see note) and the Danish People's Party won 24 seats. The main opposition Social Democratic Party, led by Mr. Mogens Lykketoft, took 47 seats, losing five. He subsequently resigned as party leader and was succeeded by Ms. Helle Thorning-Schmidt in April 2005.

In the 2007 elections, Prime Minister Rasmussen was seeking a third consecutive term in office.

A total of 808 candidates, representing nine parties and including 12 independents, contested the 2007 elections.

Tax, welfare, and immigration were main issues during the election campaign. Prime Minister Rasmussen pledged to implement further tax-cutting measures, referring to his government's proposal to lower income tax, which was passed in parliament on 23 October. The Social Democrat leader Thorning-Schmidt promised to provide better welfare, including higher wages for the lowest-paid public servants.

Prime Minister Rasmussen also promised to soften asylum laws, proposing that asylum seekers with families be housed outside reception centres. The Social Democratic Party suggested that rejected asylum seekers be allowed to work in Denmark. The New Alliance, a new centrist party formed in May 2007 and led by Mr. Naser Khader, a Syrian-born Palestinian immigrant, also promised to work towards better treatment of refugees. The Danish People's Party led by Ms. Pia Kjaersgaard, opposed all initiatives to soften asylum laws.

In all, 86.59 per cent of the country's 4 million voters turned out at the polls.

The final results gave the outgoing coalition and its supporters a total of 89 seats. The Social Democratic Party took 45 seats. The New Alliance finally won 2.8 per cent of the votes, or five seats.

On 23 November, Prime Minister Rasmussen formed a new Liberal-Conservative coalition government, supported by the Danish People's Party and the New Alliance.

On 27 November, the newly-elected parliament held its first session and elected former finance minister Mr. Thor Pedersen as its new Speaker.

STATISTICS


Round no 1 (13 November 2007): Election results
Number of registered electors		4'022'920
Voters		3'483'533 (86.59%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers		24'113
Valid votes		3'459'420



Round no 1: Distribution of votes

Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%
Liberal Party (Venstre)		908'472	26.26
Social Democratic Party		881'037	25.47
Danish People's Party		479'532	13.86
Socialist People's Party		450'975	13.04
Conservative People's Party		359'404	10.39
Radical Liberal Party		177'161	5.12
New Alliance		97'295	2.81
Unity List		74'982	2.17


Round no 1: Distribution of seats

Political Group				Total
Liberal Party (Venstre)				46
Social Democratic Party				45
Danish People's Party				25
Socialist People's Party				23
Conservative People's Party				18
Radical Liberal Party				9
New Alliance				5
Unity List				4

Comments:

Sources:
- http://im.dk/
- Ministry of Welfare (28.11.2007)
- The Danish Parliament (29.11.2007, 29.02.2008, 03.03.2008)

Note
Four other members are elected separately from Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The statistics above exclude the election results for these four members.

Election results for Greenland:
Inuit Ataqatigiits: 1 seat
Forward (Siumut): 1 seat

Election results for the Faroe Islands:
Republican Party (Tjóðveldisflokkurins): 1 seat
Union Party (Sambandspartiet): 1 seat

Note on the number of women
In all, 67 women (including one from Greenland) were elected. Following the elections, one male MP gave up his seat and was replaced by a woman. There are thus 68 women.

Distribution of seats according to sex:

Men:

112

Women:

Percent of women:

37.43

Distribution of seats according to age:


21 to 30 years	21
31 to 40 years	42
41 to 50 years	45
51 to 60 years	43
61 to 70 years	27
Over 70 years	1

Distribution of seats according to profession:

Civil/public servants/administrators (including social/development workers)		63
Educators		18
Others		16
Business/trade/industry employees, including executives		12
Legal professions		11
Engineers/PC experts		9
Medical professions (doctors, dentists, nurses)		9
Media-related professions (journalists/publishers)		9
Military/police officers		7
Clerical occupations		7
Economists		7
Consultants (including real estate agents)		5
Farmers/agricultural workers (including wine growers)		4
Bankers (including invest bankers)/accountants		2

Also available: Archive of past election results for this chamber

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