Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen is set to become Denmark's youngest ever prime minister after dragging her party sharply to the Right on immigration, a move that will be watched closely by other centre-Left parties in Europe.
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| Opposition leader Mette Frederiksen of The Danish Social Democrats after the election results confirmed her victory |
"This evening we have won a historic victory for the red parties," the 41-year-old career politician said as she as she came on stage at the party's election vigil in the Danish parliament's Christiansborg Palace.
"Welfare, immigration, climate, the future: we have generated hope that we can improve Denmark."
Under her leadership, the party has adopted the rhetoric and policies of of the anti-immigration Danish People's Party, winning back many of its traditional working class voters, and inflicting crushing losses on the populist party, which saw its share of the vote plummet from 21.1 per cent to 8.7 per cent.
The Social Democrats aim to rule Denmark as a single-party minority government, driving forward environmental and social reforms with the backing of parties to the left and tough immigration policies with those to the right.
But it is unclear whether her red bloc allies, the Social Liberal and Socialist People's Party, will allow this.
While the red bloc had gained 15 seats in the parliament by when more than 85 percent of the vote had been counted on Thursday morning, the Social Democrats won just one of these, with the Social Liberals and Socialist People's Party winning eight and seven respectively.
During the campaign, both pledged to exact real concessions on immigration in exchange for their backing, a move Frederiksen repeatedly said she would not be willing to give.
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| Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen |
Denmark's current Prime Minister on Wednesday night acknowledged defeat, declaring that "power is going to shift" and announcing that he would submit his government's resignation to the Danish queen.
But he told supporters he still hoped to serve another term as prime minister, leading a grand coalition alongside the Social Democrats.
"I know I am not the only one with this ambition, because Mette Frederiksen wants to form a socialist government with a red bloc," he said.
But he said he would leave the offer open while Frederiksen engaged in the difficult negotiations ahead. "The Liberal Party is moving on, but we're not going home. We'll be waiting by the telephone."
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