Wednesday June 26, 2019
Mette Frederiksen talks to the media after her Social Democratic party formed a minority government. Photograph: Mads Claus Rasmussen/EPA
Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democratic party forms minority government
Denmark has became the third Nordic country this year to form a leftist government after the Social Democratic party leader, Mette Frederiksen, finalised terms for a one-party minority government. Aged 41, she becomes the country’s youngest ever prime minister.
“It is with great pleasure I can announce that, after three weeks of negotiations, we have a majority to form a new government,” Frederiksen said on Tuesday.
While the leftist opposition bloc got a convincing majority, support for the Social Democratic Party declined slightly compared with the 2015 vote, but it remained the biggest party.
Despite differences among left-leaning parties over issues such as welfare and immigration, Frederiksen got their backing to form a one-party minority government, a common arrangement in Denmark.
The election results signalled that Danish voters had rebelled against austerity measures, while dealing a blow to rightwing nationalists, who lost more than half of their votes compared with 2015.
In Finland and Sweden, the Social Democratic parties formed governments earlier this year.