Danish general election, 2011
The general election in 2011 was the 67th election to the Danish Parliament ( Folketing ). It took place on Thursday, September 15, 2011 instead.
Around four million voters, determined by the distribution of the 179 parliamentary seats. 175 seats were awarded in Denmark and the 2 seats in the autonomous areas Faroe Islands and Greenland. It was a 2- percent threshold.
The opposition coalition to the Social Democrats of top candidate Helle Thorning- Schmidt won a slim majority in the Folketing. Thorning -Schmidt became the first woman in the office of Prime Minister of Denmark.
Election date
The right to hold elections and to determine the exact election date, is the Prime Minister. Since the term of the Folketing is limited to four years, had to be held in the coming election to 13 November 2011. Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen had always declared their intention to fully exploit the legislature. He fixed the date 26 August 2011, after the government camp on some economic policies had not immediately able to agree.
It has become the practice to have between proclamation and conduct of the election, wait at least three weeks for the authorities to take the necessary precautions and parties and candidates can explain their application. In addition, the voters should be able to orient in a sufficiently informative campaign.
Conventionally, find Danish urn courses on weekdays instead of, not as in many European countries on a Sunday. 1990, 1994 and 1998, the election day was a Wednesday; 2001, 2005 and 2007 was elected on a Tuesday. 2011 took place the election on a Thursday.
Starting position
Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen ( Venstre ) led his first campaign as head of government. He was in 2009 Anders Fogh Rasmussen followed in office when this moved to the post of Secretary General of NATO. Lars Løkke Rasmussen wanted to continue the existing coalition of Venstre and the Conservatives with the connivance of the Danish People's Party. The neo-liberal Liberal Alliance wanted to keep him in office.
His challenger Helle Thorning -Schmidt of the Social Democrats was supported by the Socialist People's Party, Social Liberals and left unit list as in 2007.
Voting in election year
The regular exit polls, which were commissioned by newspapers and television channels in order, saw a long time a stable advantage for the left-wing opposition camp. In the week before the election, the Left parties had in the projection of the conservative daily Berlingske eleven seats ahead of the ruling alliance, right, during the survey for the left-liberal policies at the same time saw a lead of even twenty-one seats.
Results
Although Venstre was able to record light of Prime Minister Rasmussen gains and remained the strongest party, his coalition lost its majority in the Folketing. This was mainly due to the heavy losses of the Conservatives, who lost more than half of their votes. Overall, the coalition reached 86 seats in the Folketing.
On the other hand, the Social Democrats lost votes and easily achieved the worst result of their party history. However, their overall electoral alliance was set and won a majority in the Folketing. Winners on the Left were the Social Liberals, who were able to balance their massive losses in the 2007 election again, and the Red-Green Unity List, which tripled their earnings. Together, the coalition reached 89 mandates. Thus, a voice is missing the absolute majority in the Folketing. About this electoral alliance has, however, by the statement of support of three MPs from Greenland or from the Faroe Islands.
On the Faroe Islands was in 2007 as per a mandate to the left and the right bearing. Election winner was the liberal- unionist Sambandsflokkurin who was able to gain more than 7 percentage points. Biggest loser was the socialist- secessionist Tjóðveldi, which lost 6 percentage points and had to give up her seat in the Folketing to the social democratic unionist Javnaðarflokkurin. This means that both mandates went to unionist parties.
In Greenland, the distribution of seats remained unchanged, both seats fell to the left bearing. The socialist Inuit Ataqatigiit and the Social Democratic Siumut were able to significantly expand its share of the vote, while especially the liberal Atassut lost massively.
Denmark
Source: Danmarks Statistik
Note: The changes in the seat numbers refer to the election results in 2007, not to the situation just before the 2011 election
Faroe Islands
Sources: Faroese radio and Reichsombudsschaft in the Faroe Islands. To disposition in secessionist and unionist parties see also autonomy of the Faroe Islands.
Greenland
Preliminary Results. Sources: Reichsombudsschaft in Greenland and Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation