Government of Denmark
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Denmark is a constitutional monarchy with a representative democracy based on a unicameral parliamentary system. The affairs of Government are decided by a Cabinet of Ministers, which is led by a Prime Minister. The Cabinet and the Prime Minister are responsible for their actions to the Parliament of Denmark.
Members of the cabinet are given the formal title of minister and each hold a different portfolio of government duties. The day-to-day role of the cabinet members is to serve as head of one or more segments of the national bureaucracy, as head of the civil servants to which all employees in that department report.
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[edit] Head of Government
Enjoying the status of primus inter pares, the Prime Minister is head of the Danish government. The Minister and members of the cabinet are appointed by the Crown on basis of the party composition in Parliament. No vote of confidence is necessary to begin the government after election. If the Parliament expresses its lack of confidence in the Prime Minister, the entire cabinet must step down, unless a new election for Parliament is called.
As of October 3, 2011, the Prime Minister is Helle Thorning-Schmidt, leading a minority government coalition of the Social Democrats, Social Liberal Party and Socialist Peoples' Party. The government is supported by the Red-Green Alliance.
[edit] Parliament
The Folketing (Danish: Folketinget, Danish pronunciation: [ˈfʌlg̊ətˢeŋˀ]), is the national parliament of Denmark. It has 179 seats, of which two are reserved for the Faroe islands and Greenland each. A long-standing rule in the constitution allows a government to begin rule without getting a vote of confidence, as long as it does not lose a vote of no confidence during the parliamentary term. One consequence is that unlike in most other parliamentary systems, a cabinet must usually piece together a majority for each piece of legislation.
| Parties | Leaders | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark proper | ||||||
| Liberals (Venstre) (V) | Lars Løkke Rasmussen | 947,725 | 26.7% | 47 | +1 | |
| Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) (A) | Helle Thorning-Schmidt | 879,615 | 24.8% | 44 | −1 | |
| Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti) (O) | Pia Kjærsgaard | 436,726 | 12.3% | 22 | −3 | |
| Social Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre) (B) | Margrethe Vestager | 336,698 | 9.5% | 17 | +8 | |
| Socialist People's Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti) (F) | Villy Søvndal | 326,192 | 9.2% | 16 | −7 | |
| Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) (Ø) | Collective leadership | 236,860 | 6.7% | 12 | +8 | |
| Liberal Alliance (Liberal Alliance) (I) | Anders Samuelsen | 176,585 | 5.0% | 9 | +4 | |
| Conservative People's Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti) (C) | Lars Barfoed | 175,047 | 4.9% | 8 | −10 | |
| Christian Democrats (Kristendemokraterne) (K) | Per Ørum Jørgensen | 28,070 | 0.8% | 0 | 0 | |
| Candidates without parties | 1,850 | 0.1% | 0 | 0 | ||
| Red Alliance (A, B, F, Ø) | Helle Thorning-Schmidt | 1,779,365 | 50.2% | 89 | +8 | |
| Blue Alliance (C, I, K, O, V) | Lars Løkke Rasmussen | 1,764,153 | 49.8% | 86 | −8 | |
| Invalid votes | 34,307 | |||||
| Subtotal (Turnout: 87.7% – electorate: 4,079,910) | 3,545,368 | 100.0% | 175 | |||
| Faroe Islands | ||||||
| Union Party (Sambandsflokkurin) (B) | Kaj Leo Johannesen | 6,361 | 30.8% | 1 | 0 | |
| Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) (C) | Aksel Johannesen | 4,328 | 21.0% | 1 | +1 | |
| Republic (Tjóðveldi) (E) | Høgni Hoydal | 3,998 | 19.4% | 0 | −1 | |
| People's Party (Fólkaflokkurin) (A) | Jørgen Niclasen | 3,932 | 19.0% | 0 | 0 | |
| Centre Party (Miðflokkurin) (H) | Jenis av Rana | 872 | 4.2% | 0 | 0 | |
| Self-Government Party (Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) (D) | Kári á Rógvu | 481 | 2.3% | 0 | 0 | |
| Candidates without parties | 672 | 3.3% | 0 | 0 | ||
| Invalid votes | 301 | |||||
| Subtotal (Turnout: 58.9% – electorate: 35,044) | 20,644 | 100.0% | 2 | |||
| Greenland | ||||||
| Inuit Community (Inuit Ataqatigiit) | Kuupik Kleist | 9,780 | 42.7% | 1 | 0 | |
| Forward (Siumut) | Aleqa Hammond | 8,499 | 37.1% | 1 | 0 | |
| Democrats (Demokraatit) | Jens B. Frederiksen | 2,882 | 12.6% | 0 | 0 | |
| Feeling of Community (Atassut) | Finn Karlsen | 1,728 | 7.5% | 0 | 0 | |
| Candidates without parties | 24 | 0.1% | 0 | 0 | ||
| Invalid votes | 612 | |||||
| Subtotal (Turnout: 57.4% – electorate: 40,935) | 22,913 | 100.0% | 2 | |||
| Overall | ||||||
| Red Alliance (A, B, F, Ø, Siumut, Inuit Ataqatigiit, Javnaðarflokkurin) | Helle Thorning-Schmidt | 1,801,972 | 50.2% | 92 | ||
| Blue Alliance (V, O, I, C, K, Union Party) | Lars Løkke Rasmussen | 1,770,514 | 49.3% | 87 | ||
| Total (Turnout: 87.2% – electorate: 4,156,735) | 3,588,919 | 100.0% | 179 | |||
All turnout figures include invalid votes, subtotals and totals exclude invalid votes
The Social Democrats, Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party form a three-party government. The new parliament convened on 4 October, the first Tuesday of the month. The speaker of the house is Mogens Lykketoft a member of the Social Democrats.
[edit] Cabinet Government
According to section 14 of the constitution, the king sets the number of ministers and the distribution of cases between them. That means that the number of cabinet positions and the organisation of the state administration into agencies are not set by law, but subject to change without notice. A coalition of many parties usually means a large cabinet and many ministries, while a small coalition or the rare one party government means fewer, larger ministries.
As of October 3, 2011 in the wake of the parliamentary elections, the cabinet has 23 members including the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister leads the work of the Cabinet as well as being minister for constitutional affairs, overseas territories and for the affairs of the press.
The 23 cabinet members hold different portfolios of duties, including but not limited to the day-to-day role as head of one or more segments of the government departments.
Since it is not a requirement that cabinet members be elected members of parliament, it is likewise not required for them to resign a seat in parliament while holding a position in the cabinet.
[edit] Departments
On October 3, 2011, the Minister of State, Helle Thorning-Schmidt presented the new government, firstly to the Queen and thereafter to the public. The ministerial posts are as follows:
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Folketingsvalg torsdag 15. september 2011". dst.dk. Statistics Denmark. http://www.dst.dk/valg/Valg1204271/valgopg/valgopg.htm. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ "Kringvarp.fo - Valúrslit". kringvarp.fo. Kringvarp Føroya. http://www.kringvarp.fo/tidindi/folkatingsval/valurslit. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ "Letter to Statistics Denmark regarding the Faroese election results". dst.dk. Statistics Denmark. http://www.dst.dk/valg/Valg1204271/other/Folketingsvalget_Faeroerne.pdf. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ "Folketingimut qinersineq 2011-mi inernerit". knr.gl. KNR. http://knr.gl/kl/qinersineq/fq11/inernerit. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ "Letter to Statistics Denmark regarding the Greenlandic election results". dst.dk. Statistics Denmark. http://www.dst.dk/valg/Valg1204271/other/Folketingsvalget_Groenland.pdf. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
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