New (types of) parties and government: the Danish general election 2022

Abstract

During the Covid-19 crisis, there was a high level of rallying around the flag for the Social Democratic government. However, support waned with the sense of crisis, and some ‘scandals’ surfaced. The ‘mink scandal’ caused an early election to be called. A high number of parties, 14, competed in the election, and after the election 12 parties are now represented in parliament – a new record number. When comparing the election results of 2019 and 2022, two overall results stand out. First, only one of the two traditional large parties has maintained this status and fragmentation is increased. Second, two new parties made it into the ‘top-5’ in 2022, both formed by former prominent Liberals. The election yielded a narrow victory to the red bloc. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was able to stay in office after the election but exchanged her red bloc parliamentary majority for a coalition government with the Liberals and Moderates. Thus, a new type of coalition has emerged: a majority government spanning the usual two blocs, but challenged by opposition from both the right and left.

Keywords:

• New parties
• scandals
• coalition governments
• Denmark
• election

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Green Left/Socialist People’s Party has previously called themselves the Socialist People’s Party but at their annual meeting on 20 March 2022 decided to adopt the international name ‘Green Left’ to distance themselves from communist parties, as they were created in opposition to the communists in 1959 (Ritzau 2022). With ‘Green Left’, the party shows both that they belong to the left wing, and that they are part of the European Green Party, with whom they sit in the European Parliament (Kosiara-Pedersen 2023).

2 Other recent reports in the Elections in Context series include Faas and Klingelhöfer (2022); Durovic (2023); Lopes (2023); and Aylott and Bolin (2023).

3 There have been only six of these since the introduction of democracy in Denmark (1849), of which Støjberg is the third to be convicted.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karina Kosiara-Pedersen

Karina Kosiara-Pedersen is Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen. Her research focuses on political parties as channels of political activism, candidate recruitment, vote structuring and representation. Recent books are Nordic Party Members: Linkages in Troubled Times (edited with Knut Heidar and Marie Demker), and Demokratiets Ildsjæle [Democracy’s Fiery Souls] on explaining and understanding Danish party membership. Recent articles are published in Party Politics, European Journal of Politics and Gender, and Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. [[email protected]]