The Latest: Exit polls: Danish opposition likely to win
Posted Jun 5, 2019 03:18:52 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
COPENHAGEN — The Latest on Denmark’s general election (all times local):
8:15 p.m.
Exit polls in Denmark say that the opposition bloc that includes the centre-left Social Democrats will get the most votes in the general election.
The polls by broadcaster DR mean that the Social Democrats, which took a tougher stance on immigration, are on course to return to power after four years in opposition.
The party led by Mette Frederiksen got 25.3% of the vote, according to the exit polls and would be supported by other left-leaning parties that also made gains. Together they will get 90 seats – which is a majority.
The centre-right side would only get 75 seats in the 179-seat parliament. The remaining four seats are held by lawmakers on the Faeroe Islands and Greenland — two Danish semi-autonomous territories.
And unlike in other European countries, far-right populists aren’t on the rise.Denmark’s second-largest party, the populist Danish People’s Party, which has been supporting the minority government, got 9.8% compared to21.1% in 2015, according to the DR exit polls.
The DR exit polls were based on 4,550 people who were interviewed after casting their ballots.
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9 a.m.
Polling stations across Denmark have opened in a general election to renew the 179-seat Folketing at the end of its four-year term.
Unlike in other European countries, far-right populists don’t seem to be on the rise here, and the centre-left Danish Social Democrats may come back to power after four years in opposition, albeit on a tough immigration line.
The five-party so-called red bloc that includes the Social Democrats faces a centre-right blue bloc that is losing steam and is splintered into eight parties, of which three are newcomers, including two openly anti-Muslim groups.
The Social Democrats, Denmark’s largest party, have “a positive feeling about this election,” said Nicolai Wammen, the party’s No. 2 official, while warning against calling it a done deal.
The Associated Press
