Copenhagen: Voters cast ballots in Denmark Wednesday in a general election where the opposition Social Democrats are tipped to return to power following a campaign dominated by concerns over the climate, welfare cuts and immigration.
Opinion polls indicate the centre-left Social Democrats will win more than 27 percent of the vote, almost 10 points ahead of Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s ruling Liberal Party, which has been in power for 14 of the last 18 years.
Voting at a school in Copenhagen, Rasmussen said he was staying “calm”. “The only count that matters is the one that can be settled when the election is decided tonight,” he told reporters.
If the Social Democrats emerge victorious, they intend to form a minority government — common in Denmark’s proportional representation system — relying on the support of other parties to pass legislation.
The party, led by Mette Frederiksen, appears to have boosted its appeal after adopting the right wing’s long-standing restrictive stance on immigration.
In the Copenhagen suburb of Varlose, Frederiksen cast her vote and told reporters her party’s tougher immigration proposals were winning back supporters.
“Some Social Democrat voters who have been lost in the last few years, who didn’t support our migration policy, are returning this time,” she said.
Frederiksen herself has also u-turned on immigration since the early 2000s, when she denounced Denmark’s policy as one of the “toughest in Europe”.
At 41, Frederiksen is already a veteran of Danish politics, having made her debut in parliament at 24.
As Denmark enjoys robust growth, almost full employment and strong public finances, the Social Democrats focused its campaign on climate issues and the defence of the welfare state, promising to reverse budget cuts to education and healthcare.
Analysts believe the Social Democrats would likely cooperate with the right on immigration and with the left on other matters in the Scandinavian country, which is a member of the European Union but not the eurozone.
According to news agency Ritzau, over 60 per cent of Denmark’s 4.2 million eligible voters had cast their votes by 4pm (1400 GMT), on a warm sunny day.
Voter turnout is traditionally high in Denmark. In 2015, 85.9 per cent cast their ballots. According to a Gallup poll published in February, some 57 per cent of Danes think the next government should prioritise climate change.
For those aged between 18 and 35, the figure was 69 per cent.
Some voters at polling stations emphasised the health of the planet was a major concern.
“I think it’s climate that’s the most important, so that’s what I voted for,” said Amalie Falck-Schmidt, 29.
Ahead of the vote, opinion polls suggested the far-right Danish People’s Party, which has informally supported Rasmussen’s minority government, could lose almost half its support, shrinking to 10.7 per cent.
For the last two decades the anti-immigrant party has supported successive right-wing governments in exchange for tighter immigration policies.
But as those policies have now been broadly adopted by almost all other parties, the Danish People’s Party has lost its unique appeal.
The Social Democrats for instance last year announced their own proposal to crack down on immigration, including sending asylum seekers to special camps in North Africa while their requests are processed.
“Mette Frederiksen has loved the Danish People’s Party to death with her tough line on foreigners,” Anja Westphal, an analyst at Denmark’s public broadcaster DR, told AFP.
The Danish People’s Party’s slide has coincided with the emergence of two more extreme far-right parties, New Right and the anti-Muslim Hard Line.
Jibran Sawar, a Danish Muslim who cast his vote with his family in the capital, said he wanted to use his vote to stop the country from taking a “course” that would be detrimental to Muslims.
Sawar added he knew many young Muslims, who did not normally vote, were doing the same.
“They (the far-right parties) have actually done something that a lot of Muslim leaders couldn’t do here in Denmark. They’ve united us,” he told AFP.
The Danish parliament, the Folketing, has 179 seats, four of which represent the autonomous territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which have two seats each.
To be eligible for a seat, a party must win at least two per cent of votes. Polls close at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT).