News|Elections
Denmark will hold a parliamentary election on March 24, the office of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said.
The announcement on Thursday came as Frederiksen seeks to capitalise on an increase in support for her defiant stance against United States President Donald Trump’s push to take over the Danish semi-autonomous territory of Greenland for “national security” reasons.
Next month’s election will determine who sits in the Folketing, or parliament, for its next four-year term.
The unicameral national parliament has 179 seats, of which 175 go to lawmakers representing Denmark and two apiece to politicians from Greenland and the kingdom’s other semi-autonomous territory, the Faroe Islands.
A general election must take place at least every four years, but the prime minister can call one at any time. The last vote was held on November 1, 2022, and resulted in a three-party coalition that crosses the left-right divide.
Frederiksen, a centre-left Social Democrat, has led Denmark since mid-2019.
She currently leads a government with the Liberal Party of Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and the centrist Moderates party of Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, a former prime minister.
Frederiksen has spent recent months rallying European leaders against Trump’s Greenland threats, an effort that opinion polls suggest has bolstered her popularity after public dissatisfaction over rising living costs and pressures on welfare services.
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