Danish for breakfast

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Per
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Danish for breakfast

Post by Per »

Important and uncertain election tonight in Canada's northern neighbour - Denmark.*

Out of the 179 parliamentary seats, Greenland and the Faroes island hold two each, and these are usually not counted into the balance of power, since they mainly concern themselves with regional issues.

The current government, looking for a fourth term, is a centre right coalition, just like in Sweden. But unlike Sweden this coalition has included a xenophobic right wing party, the Danish People's Party in their midst. Following the Utøya massacre in Norway by a right wing Christian nut, this party has lost a lot of support, and the opposition hope to be able to oust the current group.

This are the seats the parties hold before these elections:

Government: 89
Liberal Party - 46 (neo-liberals, think Thatcher)
Danish People's Party - 25 (anti-immigration, anti-EU, anti-intellectual, xenophobic bastards)
Conservative People's Party - 18 (conservatives)

Opposition: 86
Social Democrats - 45 (socialists)
Socialist People's Party - 23 (socialists)
Social Liberal Party - 9 (left wing liberals)
New Alliance - 5 (multicultural liberals, many candidates are immigrants, anti-DPP)
Red-Green Alliance - 4 (left wing environmentalists)

Regional seats: 4
Faroe Islands - 2
Greenland - 2


As you can see, the opposition basically only needs to gain two seats... Recent polls have them three seats ahead of the current government coalition, but as you realise, this could go either way.

You can also see that they have some odd affections when naming parties. There are three people's parties, two liberal parties, three that start with social, two that call themselves alliances... :roll:

I see this election as important as the current government's reliance on the xenophobic Danish People's Party has led to some rather disturbing things. Eg, if a Danish citizen marries a foreigner under 25 years of age, they are not allowed to settle in Denmark. This has caused a lot of Danes with foreign spouses to settle in Southern Sweden... Since there is freedom of movement throughout Scandinavia, this then allows them to.

I'm pretty happy with the centre-right coalition we have here in Sweden, but they have set down their foot firmly and refuse to include our anti-immigration party, the Sweden Democrats, in any talks or negotiations. Since their Danish counterparts have failed to stay out of the ideological gutter, I'd be pleased to see them go.

Let's hope these elections can serve as the first nail in the coffin of the brown shirted lice that have infiltrated the Scandinavian parliaments; the DPP in Denmark, the Sweden Democrats in Sweden, the Progress Party in Norway and the True Finns in Finland. They are a nasty throwback to the 1930's and belong on the ash heap of history.


*sure, Greenland only has two seats out of 179 in the Danish parliament, but still.
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Re: Danish for breakfast

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Neck to neck race. Opposition is ahead 88 - 87 right now, so we may not know till they have counted the absentee votes... :?
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Re: Danish for breakfast

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They're calling it for the opposition now, who seems to have won 89-87, but since a couple of mandates have been won by a slim margine, the recount and the final absentee votes could still possibly change the outcome.

Seems anyway that the Danes have elected their first female PM as social democrat Helle Thorning Schmidt takes on the task of forming a new government.

That leaves Sweden as the only Nordic country to never have had a female PM. :oops:
Finland and Iceland have even had female presidents, but hey, we've been ruled by queens three times:
Margareta (all of Scandinavia) 1389-1412
Kristina 1644-1654
Ulrika Eleonora 1718-1720
And we currently have a crown princess, Victoria. :roll:
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Re: Danish for breakfast

Post by Per »

Preliminary result:

New government coalition:89
Social Democrats - 44 (-1)
Social Liberal Party - 17 (+8)
Socialist People's Party - 16 (-7)
Red-Green Alliance - 12 (+8)

New opposition:86
Liberal Party - 47 (+1)
Danish People's Party - 22 (-3)
New Alliance - 9 (+4)
Conservative People's Party - 8 (-10)

Christian Democrats - 0 (+/-0)

Comments; the party that gained the PM seat lost voters and the party that lost the PM seat gained... interesting.

The parties that dared take a stand against the DPP and their raving anti-immigrant rants were those who gained most, which shows that the voters are beginning to get fed up with the xenophobia. :rockin:

The New Alliance is still in opposition, being basically a right of centre party but refusing to be part of the previous coalition because of the DPP.

Main losers are not the DPP, as could have been expected when their main foes gained the most, but actually the Conservatives. :o
Not sufficiently read up on Danish politics to explain that one. :?

Possibly just a result of the economic recession punishing the ruling coalition, and a general shift from right to left making the party furthest to the right most punished.

That does not explain why the Socialist People's Party lost so many seats, but perhaps voters were just fed up with all parties claiming to be People's Parties...
:lol:

Possibly the general leftists just preferred to vote for either the greener choice (Red-Greens) or the most anti-DPP choice (Social Liberals). Could also be that the swing vote was more comfortable staying with a Liberal option, albeit left wing liberals, than going straight to socialism.

In a sense I guess these results actually show a strengthening of the middle, while both extremes suffered losses.
That's very odd, as a recession usually produces the exact opposite.
:hmmm:

Unlike Germany, where the Christian Democrats make up the backbone of the government, and Sweden, where the Christian Democrats are a minor partner of the government coalition, the Danish counterpart is once again left wandering in the desert... :wink:
Last edited by Per on Fri Sep 16, 2011 12:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Danish for breakfast

Post by Puck »

Sounds good to me, Per. Thanks for a little global politics. We are far too sheltered news-wise in North America.
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Re: Danish for breakfast

Post by the Dogsalmon »

Puck wrote:Sounds good to me, Per. Thanks for a little global politics. We are far too sheltered news-wise in North America.

we are not sheltered...we just dont give a fuck...
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Re: Danish for breakfast

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That comment goes beautifully with your avatar, pal. If you don't give a f*ck why did you bother to comment?
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Re: Danish for breakfast

Post by the Dogsalmon »

Puck wrote:That comment goes beautifully with your avatar, pal. If you don't give a f*ck why did you bother to comment?

i would normally tell you[ mod edit]...but looking at your avatar i am certain you would accept the offer...pass...
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