2005 Danish general election

General elections were held in Denmark on 8 February 2005.[1] Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Venstre remained the largest party in the Folketing and his governing coalition with 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 remained outside the governing group of parties. The elections marked the second time in a row that the Social Democrats were not the largest party in parliament, a change from most of the 20th century. The Social Democrats lost five seats and leader Mogens Lykketoft resigned immediately after the elections. Voter turnout was 85% in Denmark proper, 73% in the Faroe Islands and 59% in Greenland.[2]

2005 Danish general election
Danish Realm
← 2001 8 February 2005 2007 →

All 179 seats in the Folketing
90 seats needed for a majority
Turnout84.54%
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
Venstre Anders Fogh Rasmussen 29.03 52 −4
Social Democrats Mogens Lykketoft 25.84 47 −5
DPP Pia Kjærsgaard 13.25 24 +2
Conservatives Bendt Bendtsen 10.27 18 +2
Social Liberals Marianne Jelved 9.18 17 +8
SF Holger K. Nielsen 5.99 11 −1
Red–Green Collective leadership 3.40 6 +2
Elected in the Faroe Islands
Republican Høgni Hoydal 25.36 1 0
People's Anfinn Kallsberg 24.02 1 +1
Elected in Greenland
Siumut Hans Enoksen 33.66 1 0
Inuit Ataqatigiit Josef Motzfeldt 25.04 1 0
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister-elect
Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Venstre
Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Venstre

Background

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Prior to the SARS pandemic in 2003 and with Boxing Day tsunami in December 2004, Prime Minister Rasmussen called the elections on 18 January. Rasmussen still had almost a year left in his term, but he said that the country 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.

In the previous elections in 2001, the governing coalition of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party had won 94 of the 175 seats together with the supporting Danish People's Party.

Electoral system

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This was the last election in which the counties were used as constituencies.

Campaign

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Venstre 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 focused on employment, which they claim has decreased under the current government.

The Danish People's Party, which supported 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.

Results

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63 out of the 179 members of the new Folketing were newly elected. Although women made up 38% of the total, several women held prominent positions, notably Pia Kjærsgaard, leader of the third largest party, the 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) were other important woman in the parliament. A couple of parties, including the Social Democrats were holding leadership races, which might have been won by women. 9 of the top 20 candidates, in terms of personal votes, were women.

 
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Denmark proper
Venstre974,63629.0352–4
Social Democrats867,34925.8447–5
Danish People's Party444,94713.2524+2
Conservative People's Party344,88610.2718+2
Danish Social Liberal Party308,2129.1817+8
Socialist People's Party201,0475.9911–1
Red–Green Alliance114,1233.406+2
Christian Democrats58,0711.730–4
Centre Democrats33,8801.0100
Minority Party8,8500.260New
Independents1,2110.0400
Total3,357,212100.001750
Valid votes3,357,21299.19
Invalid/blank votes27,3480.81
Total votes3,384,560100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,003,61684.54
Faroe Islands
Republican Party6,30125.3610
People's Party5,96724.021+1
Social Democratic Party5,51822.2100
Union Party5,33321.470–1
Centre Party8293.340New
Self-Government5852.3500
Independents3091.240New
Total24,842100.0020
Valid votes24,84299.62
Invalid/blank votes940.38
Total votes24,936100.00
Registered voters/turnout34,16672.98
Greenland
Siumut7,76133.6610
Inuit Ataqatigiit5,77425.0410
Democrats4,90921.290New
Atassut3,77416.3700
Independents8413.6500
Total23,059100.0020
Valid votes23,05998.06
Invalid/blank votes4571.94
Total votes23,516100.00
Registered voters/turnout39,58859.40
Source: Danmarks Statistik, Nohlen & Stöver

Maps

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Aftermath

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Following the elections, 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.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p525 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p550

Further reading

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