2005 Danish general election

2005 Danish general election

8 February 2005
All 179 seats in the Folketing
Turnout	84.4%
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Venstre Anders Fogh Rasmussen 29.0% 52 −4 Social Democrats Mogens Lykketoft 25.9% 47 −5 DPP Pia Kjærsgaard 13.3% 24 +2 Conservatives Bendt Bendtsen 10.3% 18 +2 Social Liberals Marianne Jelved 9.2% 17 +8 SF Holger K. Nielsen 6.0% 11 −1 Red–Green Collective leadership 3.4% 6 +2 Elected in the Faroe Islands scope="row" style="border-left: 4px solid Template:Republic (Faroe Islands)/meta/color;" | Republican Høgni Hoydal 25.4% 1 0 People's Anfinn Kallsberg 24.0% 1 +1 Elected in Greenland Siumut Hans Enoksen 34.3% 1 0 Inuit Ataqatigiit Josef Motzfeldt 25.5% 1 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Prime Minister before PM-elect Anders Fogh Rasmussen Venstre Anders Fogh Rasmussen Venstre

General elections were held in Denmark on 8 February 2005. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Venstre retained the largest number of seats in parliament. The governing coalition between the Venstre and the Conservative People's Party remained intact, with the Danish People's Party providing the parliamentary support needed for the minority government. The Danish Social Liberal Party made the biggest gains of any party, although it remains outside the governing group of parties. The election marked the second time in a row that the Social Democrats were not the largest party in the parliament, a change from most of the 20th century. The party lost 5 seats and leader Mogens Lykketoft resigned immediately after the election.

The prime minister called the elections on 18 January. He claimed that he would have called it earlier, but the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake which killed a number of Danes delayed it. Rasmussen still had almost a year left in his term, but said he wanted to call the election before municipal elections in November. His reasoning was that he wanted a clear mandate for the municipal and county government restructuring that his government was implementing.

From the last election the governing coalition of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party had 94 of the 175 seats together with the supporting Danish People's Party. This number was unchanged after the 2005 election. Voter turnout was 84.5% in Denmark proper, 73.0% in the Faroe Islands and 59.4% in Greenland.

Results

Denmark proper
Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Venstre	974,636	29.0	52	–4
Social Democratic Party	867,349	25.8	47	–5
Danish People's Party	444,947	13.3	24	+2
Conservative People's Party	344,886	10.3	18	+2
Danish Social Liberal Party	308,212	9.2	17	+8
Socialist People's Party	201,047	6.0	11	–1
Red-Green Alliance	114,123	3.4	6	+2
Christian Democrats	58,071	1.7	0	–4
Centre Democrats	33,880	1.0	0	0
Minority Party	8,850	0.3	0	New
Independents	1,211	0.0	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	27,348	–	–	–
Total	3,384,560	100	175	0
Faroe Islands
Republican Party	6,301	25.4	1	0
People's Party	5,967	24.0	1	+1
Social Democratic Party	5,518	22.2	0	0
Union Party	5,333	21.5	0	–1
Centre Party	829	3.3	0	New
Self-Government Party	585	2.4	0	0
Independents	309	1.2	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	94	–	–	–
Total	24,936	100	2	0
Greenland
Siumut	7,761	34.3	1	0
Inuit Ataqatigiit	5,774	25.5	1	0
Democrats	4,909	21.7	0	New
Atassut	3,374	14.9	0	0
Independents	841	3.7	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	457	–	–	–
Total	23,516	100	2	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular vote V   29.03% A   25.84% O   13.25% C   10.27% B   9.18% F   5.99% Ø   3.40% K   1.73% D   1.01% Others   0.30%

63 out of the 179 members of the new folketing are newly elected. Although women make up 38% of the total, several women hold prominent positions, notably Pia Kjærsgaard, leader of the third largest party, Danish People's Party. Marianne Jelved (leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party), Connie Hedegaard (Minister of the Environment), Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil (front figure of Enhedslisten) and Helle Thorning-Schmidt (later elected as leader of Social Democrats) are other important woman in the parliament. A couple of parties, including the Social Democrats are holding leadership races, which may be won by women. 9 of the top 20 candidates, in terms of personal votes, were women.

Following the election, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen reformed his liberal-conservative cabinet as the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen II with parliamentary support from Danish People's Party.

Platforms

Venstre, the party of the prime minister, campaigned on their municipal restructuring plan, as well as a continuation of the "tax-freeze" and tight immigration requirements. They also promised to see 60,000 jobs created during a second term.

The largest opposition party, the Social Democrats led by Mogens Lykketoft focused on employment, which they claim has decreased under the current government.

The Danish People's Party, who support the Venstre-Conservative coalition, criticized the "tax-freeze" but agreed, conditionally, to support it for another parliamentary term. They also wanted increasingly tough immigration restrictions.

Further reading

• Pedersen, Karina (November 2005). "The 2005 Danish general election: A phase of consolidation". West European Politics. 28 (5): 1101–1108. doi:10.1080/01402380500311848.

External links

• Official info from Folketinget website
• Angus Reid Consultants - Election Tracker