Left wins vote in Denmark
Nation elects its first female prime minister
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Denmark elected its first female prime minister Thursday, ousting the right-wing government from power after 10 years of pro-market reforms and ever-stricter controls on immigration.
Near complete official results showed a left-leaning bloc led by Social Democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt would gain a narrow majority in the 179-seat Parliament.
“We did it. Make no mistake: We have written history,” the 44-year-old opposition leader told jubilant supporters in Copenhagen. “Today there’s a change of guards in Denmark.”
Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen conceded defeat, saying he would present his Cabinet’s resignation today to Queen Margrethe, Denmark’s figurehead monarch.
The result means the country of 5.5 million residents will get a new government that could roll back some of the austerity measures introduced by Loekke Rasmussen amid Europe’s debt crisis.
A majority for the “red bloc” also deprives the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party of the kingmaker role it has used to tighten Denmark’s borders and stem the flow of asylum-seekers.
The opposition won 89 of the mainland seats compared to 86 for the governing coalition, according to preliminary results with 100 percent of votes counted.
A power shift isn’t likely to yield major changes in consensus-oriented Denmark, where there is broad agreement on the need for a robust welfare system financed by high taxes.
But the two sides differ on the depth of austerity measures needed to keep Denmark’s finances intact amid the uncertainty of the global economy.
Thorning-Schmidt wants to protect the welfare system by raising taxes on the rich and extending the average working day by 12 minutes.
Loekke Rasmussen, 47, says tax hikes would harm the competitiveness of a nation that already has the highest tax pressure in the world.