Danish election produces inconclusive result that leaves prime minister’s future unclear

A person exits a polling booth at a polling station at City Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, during the general election. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Denmark’s election Tuesday ended in an inconclusive result that left the prime minister’s future unclear, after a campaign that focused on bread-and-butter issues rather than her handling of the crisis over U.S. President Donald Trump ‘s ambitions toward Greenland.

Official results showed that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s centre-left Social Democrats lost ground compared with the last election in 2022, as did her two partners in the outgoing government.

Neither left-leaning nor right-leaning blocs won a majority in parliament. That left experienced Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, a former prime minister, in the role of kingmaker.

His centrist Moderate party, with 14 lawmakers in the 179-seat parliament, is in a position to determine whether Frederiksen can serve a third term at the helm of the European Union and NATO country.

Frederiksen said that she is ready to stay on as prime minister. “The world is unsettled. There are strong winds around us,” she said. “Denmark needs a stable government, a competent government. We are ready to take the lead.”

‘Come and play with us’

Løkke Rasmussen called on rivals on the left and right to climb down from some of the positions they staked out in the campaign, and “come and play with us.”

Denmark “is a small country of six million people in a world of eight billion, which is in upheaval -- and there is war in Iran, and there is war in Ukraine,” he said. He argued that “We are one tribe. We must come together. We must not be divided.”

But Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, the best-placed centre-right challenger to Frederiksen, made clear that he and his Liberal party don’t intend to go into government with her Social Democrats again.

The Social Democrats remained the biggest single party by some distance, but with 21.9 per cent of the vote -- well below the 27.5 per cent they took in the 2022 election.

The 48-year-old Frederiksen is known for strong support of Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion and for a restrictive approach to migration -- continuing what has become a tradition in Danish politics.

Frederiksen called the election early

Frederiksen called the election in February, several months before she had to. She apparently hoped that her resolute image in the standoff over Trump’s push for control of Greenland, rallying European allies behind Denmark, would help her with voters.

Her support had previously waned as the cost of living rose, something that, along with pensions and a potential wealth tax, has been a prominent campaign issue.

No single party had been expected to come anywhere near winning a majority. Denmark’s system of proportional representation typically produces coalition governments, traditionally made up of several parties from either the “red bloc” on the left or the “blue bloc” on the right, after weeks of negotiations.

Frederiksen’s outgoing administration was the first in decades to straddle the left-right divide.

Social Democrat lawmaker Morten Klessen said the outgoing government had performed well, but that “there’s been a lot of trouble in Europe and I think our government has had a lot of focus about Ukraine and I think we have lost a little bit in domestic votes for that.” He argued that “we need Mette Frederiksen in Europe for solidarity.”

Frederiksen herself said she had hoped for a better result, but it was normal for a party seeking a third term to lose ground. She compared Tuesday’s result with the 25.9 per cent of the vote her party took in 2019, when she became prime minister.

“I have been in charge of this wonderful country for nearly seven years,” she said. “We have weathered the pandemic; we have had to deal with war. We have been threatened by the American president, and in those nearly seven years, we have seen a four percent decline.”

Greenland wasn’t a big issue in the campaign

Greenland, which took up much of the government’s energy in recent months, wasn’t a significant issue in the campaign because there is broad agreement on its place in the kingdom.

Frederiksen warned in January that an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of NATO. But the crisis has simmered down, at least for now.

After Trump backed down on threats to impose tariffs on Denmark and other European countries that opposed the U.S. taking control of the vast Arctic island, the U.S., Denmark and Greenland started technical talks on an Arctic security deal.

Denmark’s single-chamber parliament, the Folketing, is elected for a four-year term. Lawmakers from Denmark hold 175 of its seats, while two each go to representatives from thinly populated Greenland and the kingdom’s other semiautonomous territory, the Faroe Islands.

More than 4.3 million people were eligible to vote.

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By Kostya Manenkov, Geir Moulson And James Brooks

Moulson reported from Berlin.