Danes reject left-wing government as anti-immigrant vote soars
The charismatic prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has conceded defeat to a right-wing bloc.
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A strong anti-immigrant vote has unseated Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and her left-leaning coalition government.
Ms Thorning-Schmidt has conceded defeat the general election held overnight and stepped down as leader of the Social Democrats.
A strong polling performance from the Danish People’s Party (DPP) – a populist movement opposed to Denmark’s liberal policies toward Muslim refugees and asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East – helped push the so-called “blue bloc” parties to victory.
"Tomorrow I will go to the Queen and tell her that the government is stepping down,” she said. “Now it is up to Lars Løkke Rasmussen to try to form a government," she added, referring to the leader of the main right-wing Liberals, known as Venstre.
Mr Rasmussen was prime minister going into the 2011 election but had lost power when Ms Thorning-Schmidt was able to put together a minority coalition government.
He will be restored to that position with support from the DPP, whose leader leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl signalled his party would back Mr Rasmussen as prime minister, as would the leaders of the smaller support parties on the right, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservatives..
The DPP won 21.1% of the popular vote, which decides the distribution of MPs, behind the Social Democrats with 26.3% and Venstre with 19.5%.
In total, the "blue bloc" womn 52.3% of the vote, giving it 90 seats in the 179-seat parliament.
The "red bloc" gained 47.7% and 85 seats, with four seats in Denmark's Arctic territories still undecided.
Nevil Gibson
Fri, 19 Jun 2015
Fri, 19 Jun 2015
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Danes reject left-wing government as anti-immigrant vote soars
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