1943 Danish Folketing election

Election for the lower house of Danish Parliament Kingdom of Denmark 1939 1945 All 149 seats in the Folketing 75 23 March 1943 Hans Hedtoft Social Democrats (Denmark) 64 66 44.49 Christmas Møller Conservative People's Party (Denmark) 26 31 20.96 Knud Kristensen Venstre (Denmark) 30 28 18.74 Jørgen Jørgensen Danish Social Liberal Party 14 13 8.71 Arne Sørensen Danish Unity 0 3 2.16 Frits Clausen National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark 3 3 2.15 Oluf Pedersen Justice Party of Denmark 3 2 1.56 Valdemar Thomsen Farmers' Party (Denmark) 4 2 1.22 Elected in the Faroe Islands Jóannes Patursson Independent (F) People's Party (Faroe Islands) New 1 48.31 Prime Minister Erik Scavenius Nonpartisan candidate Erik Scavenius Nonpartisan candidate Folketing1943.svg Folketing elections were held in Denmark on 23 March 1943 alongside Landsting elections,Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p524 978-3-8329-5609-7 except in the Faroe Islands where they were held on 3 May. They were the only parliamentary elections held during the German occupation, and although many people feared how the Germans might react, they took place peacefully.Nordengaard J. P. Valgene til Rigsdagen gennem 100 Aar 1949 Roskilde Dagbladstrykkeri da chapter III, pp. 7–8 Nazi Germany permitted the election to proceed and had consistently maintained that Denmark was still an independent country. They had also reportedly provided substantial financial support for the Danish National Socialist Workers' Party. The five democratic parties (Social Democrats, Conservatives, Venstre, Social Liberal and the Justice Party) urged voters to support any of them. The Communist Party had been banned since 1941 and could not participate in the elections.Ogg Frederic A. Arneson Ben A. 1943 Personal and Miscellaneous American Political Science Review en 37 5 920–927 10.2307/1949109 1949109 0003-0554 free 95% of the vote went to the four largest traditional democratic parties and the Social Democratic Party remained the largest in the Folketing, winning 66 of the 149 seats. Voter turnout was 89% in mainland Denmark, the highest of any Danish parliamentary election, and became a demonstration against the occupation. Leading German newspapers expressed disappointment and indignation with the lack of political evolution among the Danish voters. In Denmark there has been some debate about whether this can be seen as democratic support for the government's "cooperation" policy (samarbejdspolitikken) with the German occupation authorities.Bertel Haarder Nye myter om samarbejdspolitikken http://www.information.dk/112531 14 February 2013 Information 21 September 2005 da Some have argued that the result showed a broad unity of opinion in the population and among politicians in support of the relatively cooperative line taken by the government. Bertel Haarder, citing Knud Kristensen, has argued that the vote was sold as one of solidarity with the Danish constitution, democracy, and a rejection of totalitarian elements in society, and cannot therefore be seen as an explicit endorsement by the population of the government's line. Political scientist Ben Arneson stated "the result of the elections clearly indicates that democracy, parliamentarism, and strong anti-Nazi attitudes retain well-nigh universal support of the Danish electorate." Results File:1943 Danish Folketing election.svg Denmark proper Social Democrats 894632 66 +2 Conservative People's Party 421523 31 +5 Venstre 376850 28 –2 Danish Social Liberal Party 175179 13 –1 Danish Unity 43367 3 +3 National Socialist Workers' Party 43309 3 0 Justice Party of Denmark 31323 2 –1 Farmers' Party 24572 2 –2 Independents 28 0 0 29800 0 2280716 y Faroe Islands Independent (People's Party)The Faroe Islands seat was won by Þ. Petersen, an independent who was a member of the People's Party. However, as Faroes were controlled by the United Kingdom during the war, his election victory was not recognised until 16 August 1945,Nohlen & Stöver, p540 only two and a half months before the elections that year. 3452 1 +1 Union Party–Venstre 2308 0 –1 Social Democratic Party 1385 0 0 0 Nohlen & Stöver Notes References Folketing Category:Denmark in World War II Denmark Category:Folketing elections