Frederiksen, the current head of government of Denmark and a member of the social democratic party, is hoping to be re-elected in the next elections. Will she be able to save a powerful coalition?
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| [Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen] |
It began with a significant quantity of dead mink. At least 13 million of them were eliminated from the population and buried in the midst of the darkest Corona period in the year 2020. As a consequence, the whole breeding mink trade in Denmark was effectively and forcefully put out of business. The Danish Social Democratic government's pandemic task force issued these directives after receiving alarming risk assessments from the Danish Serum Institute (SSI). The SSI feared that the Danish mink industry could become a "new Wuhan" because the coronavirus had begun to spread to mutate small predators and jump back to humans. This caused the task force to fear that the Danish mink industry could become a "new Wuhan." Within a few of weeks, the community service and police forces had put an end to millions of animals and disposed of their bodies. Only a few of Danes expressed regret about the end of the reviled fur trade.
Nevertheless, the so-called mink scandal is the primary reason of the early elections that will take place on November 1st, and it is also the most vital area of attack for the opposition party that represents the bourgeoisie. Because it became apparent not long after the order to cull that the legal foundation for it had been flawed, the culling was not carried out. In spite of the fact that this was eventually approved by parliament, the harm had already been done; as a result, an investigation panel was established in order to identify who was guilty for breaking the law. As a result, in June of 2022, it was determined that the government and its highest officials had engaged in serious unethical behavior by disregarding any and all legal considerations in their haste to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
Despite the fact that Mette Frederiksen herself behaved "not purposefully," according to the commission findings, the moniker of "powerful" now more accurately describes the 42-year-old and her administration than it ever has before. It was too much for one of the supporting parties of Frederiksen's minority administration, which goes by the name Radikale Venstre (which translates to "progressive liberal"): Chairwoman Sofie Carsten Nielsen issued a demand that Mette Frederiksen be required to call new elections this year rather than in the early summer of 2023, and she announced that the party will not be providing their previously stated level of support to a social democratic Single government going forward. This time, the effort must include a wider coalition in order to compete with the "full strength" of Frederiksen and Company.
Mette Frederiksen surely did not anticipate a scenario in which her sovereign power to call elections, which she was entitled to as Prime Minister, would be legally taken away from her when she went into the Danish Ministry of State in June 2019, about three and a half years ago. She was a longstanding crown princess of Denmark's biggest party, and she had previously served as minister of labor and justice, therefore she was exceptionally qualified for the position. She was also a member of a brain trust comprising prominent younger Social Democrats who chose to recreate the party during the opposition years after the Social Democrats lost the election in 2015.
They came to the conclusion that the "original working class origins" should be returned to, and that they should completely embrace the values and cultural preferences that are associated with this group. This resulted in the Danish Social Democrats shifting their ideology in two different directions: first, to the right in terms of immigration and migration policy, and then (somewhat) to the left in terms of social and distribution policy. A theory that was effective in shifting the votes that decided the 2019 election back to the so-called "red bloc" from the political center.
Mette Frederiksen had a great lot of self-confidence and drive when she took on the role of Minister of State back then. It was very evident that the ambitious leader of the one-party government intended to make a difference with her administration. After a solid six months had passed since the epidemic began, Frederiksen shown persuasive commander in chief characteristics by instituting a lockdown in a prompt and determined manner. That was to the Danes' liking. One year after gaining power, the Social Democrats' polling percentage had increased to over 33 percent, which was an increase of eight points from their 2019 performance. Many residents came to see the red Mette Frederiksen as Mor Mette, which is Danish for "the mother of the country."
The long-term pandemic limitations, the mink controversy, rising prices, and overall instability in Denmark all contributed to a growing unhappiness with the current administration in Denmark. When it was essential to delay the announcement of fresh elections until late summer, the Social Democrats were polling far lower than the results of the 2019 election. It seemed quite possible that there would be a shift in power as well as a majority of the middle-class "blue bloc."
However, Mette Frederiksen is an excellent strategist. She put off making the decision for as long as she possibly could, and when she eventually got down from the podium at the Folketing on October 5th, she announced her choice. She presented a fresh, witty, and somewhat less severe image when she declared new elections, which was a major surprise to everyone.
Suddenly, the head of government, who was known for his obstinacy and had long maintained that "social-democratic politics is best done in a social-democratic administration," expressed interest in forming a wide government of the political center, or, to put it more plainly, a grand coalition. Her reasoning for this is that during these times of crisis, security (military, financial, and social) is of the utmost importance, and that in order to address this, pragmatic solutions and "a sure hand" are necessary. Even within the context of a coalition, it was unnecessary for her to emphasize the fact that this hand ought to ideally belong to her.
This new strategy could be successful. The majority of those who cast ballots support the idea of broad political collaboration. During the course of the election campaign, the Social Democrats saw a huge uptick in their support, which has since leveled off at 25 and 27 percent. On the other hand, a nation with a population of 6 million people is seeing the emergence of an entirely new political environment. Since the previous election, new political parties have emerged, particularly to the right of the center, bringing the total number of parties on the ballot up to 14. Last but not least, experts are discussing the possibility of a "landslide" in the forthcoming election since it seems that a large number of people want to vote for a different party than they did in 2019.
In particular, migration and foreigner policy, which has been a crucial political issue in Denmark for decades, is an illustration of the new trends in Danish politics. This is because migration and foreigner policy has become more contentious in recent years. Mette Frederiksen is concerned, on the one hand, with maintaining the tough path in asylum and integration policy so that it can't be accused of having turned "soft." Because the workers who live outside of the major cities are the ones who have historically given their votes to right-wing populists exactly because of this issue, and because of the fact that they have done so, bourgeois administrations have been awarded power on several occasions.
At the same time, we have something like a "right-wing populism 2.0." This is because the first generation in the form of the Danish People's Party - which seven years ago still had over 20 percent of the vote and was the most powerful bourgeois party - has literally imploded and could possibly end up below the blocking limit of just 2 percent of the vote. But there are new and more subtle successors, such as the Danish "Trumpine" Inger Stjberg, a former middle-class liberal integration minister. Although she was sentenced to sixty days in prison by the Supreme Court last year, it is already expected that she will have between seven and eight percent of the vote with her newly founded party Danmarksdemokraterne.
Pernille Vermund, a member of Nye Borgerlige, is another prominent hardliner who advocates for an immediate halt to all asylum claims. With the assistance of these right-wing populists and the ultra-liberals of the Liberal Alliance, the two traditional bourgeois parties, Venstre (bourgeois liberal), and the Conservatives, are attempting to build a majority on the right side of the political spectrum. In the event that this is successful, restrictions on immigration will almost definitely become considerably stricter. In the year 2022, however, such a "blue alliance" does not seem to be a viable political strategy. Because there are now also bourgeois parliamentarians who have begun to question the harshness of Danish migration policy, given that examples have been mounting of how brutal and illogical it often seems to be in individual cases. This is because examples have been mounting of how brutal and illogical it often seems to be in individual cases.
One of the reasons why an incredible "comeback kid" like the former two-time Prime Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen may be crucial is due to the fact that this is one of the reasons. Following a contentious split with Venstre, he established Moderaterne, a new political party that aspires to be neither red nor blue but rather purple.
A initiative that is adamant about providing'reasonable' answers to cope with the'real' difficulties that Denmark is facing. Rasmussen freely accepts that he erred during his earlier tenure in terms of the ever-increasing stringency of the administration's foreign policy. Because of the approach he used, he was able to increase his polling percentage in only one month from 0 to 10 percent. A "wide, left-right alliance" is something that both the Social Democrats and these 56-year-old great speakers and election campaign pros would want to see.
On the other hand, this may not be good news for Mette Frederiksen in the long run. Because he announced that he had a trust problem with her person and that he would have to insist on a neutral investigation of her criminal responsibility in the mink affair after the elections before he could possibly blame her again for something that the head of government wanted to do, he is known as "Lkke" by almost all Danes. On the other hand, this would very certainly prevent the Social Democrats from entering into an agreement.
Some commentators are of the opinion that Lkke Rasmussen, a veteran of Danish politics who has survived this long, has other plans up his sleeve and that he may even make a last-ditch effort to take power for himself. Even though she has declared against her own instincts that she is ready to form a grand coalition, Social Democrat Frederiksen, who just a short while ago appeared to be unbeatable, could still fall over a small furry animal. This is despite the fact that Frederiksen has stated that she is ready to form a grand coalition.
The author Rikke Detlefsen is a Danish-German documentary film director and works as a TV producer for Danish and German public television.