Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today!
Denmark’s left-wing bloc headed by Social Democrat prime minister Mette Frederiksen won Denmark’s general election but failed to secure a majority (00:28).
The “red bloc” secured 84 seats in the new parliament, as the “blue bloc” got 77 seats, both short of the 90 seats required for majority.
Former prime minister and current foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the leader of the non-aligned centre-right Moderates, has emerged as the likely kingmaker with 14 seats which will probably decide the next administration (12:43, 20:37, 22:40, 23:26, 23:45).
Denmark now faces weeks of coalition talks, but the outgoing defence minister and Liberal Party’s leader Troels Lund Poulsen appeared to rule out the continuation of the current three-party arrangement (00:22).
We will be back in the morning for more reactions as the dust begins to settle on today’s hectic election day.
But for now, good night!
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Mette Frederiksen’s leftwing bloc fails to win majority in Danish election, early results suggest
in Copenhagen
Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats and Denmark’s other left-leaning parties appear to have failed to win enough votes to gain a clear mandate to form a government in an election fought amid geopolitical tensions with the US over Greenland.
With 99% of the vote counted late on Tuesday night, the prime minister’s party looked to have won the most votes but performed worse than expected, with nearly 22% of the vote, leaving the Social Democrats and the other left-leaning parties that form the “red bloc” with 84 seats, short of a majority in the 179-seat parliament.
But the right-leaning parties of the “blue bloc” also fell short, with 77 seats, putting the foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the leader of the non-aligned centre-right Moderates, in the spotlight as kingmaker with 14 seats.
Denmark now faces weeks of coalition talks, after which another centrist coalition appears likely to emerge.
Having reportedly spent much of the night smoking his pipe, Rasmussen emerged at the Moderates party late into the night to give a speech to jubilant supporters.
He urged Frederiksen and Troels Lund Poulsen, the leader of Denmark’s Liberal party, with whom he has been in coalition for more than three years, to “come down from the trees” and join him in the centre ground.
“What is clear – with all conceivable reservations – I think is that there is no red majority to the left of us, and there is no black-blue majority to the right of us,” he said to cheers.
