2005 Danish general election

none Kingdom of Denmark 2001 2007 All 179 seats in the Folketing 90 8 February 2005 84.20% Anders Fogh Rasmussen Venstre (Denmark) 56 52 29.03 Mogens Lykketoft Social Democrats (Denmark) 52 47 25.84 Pia Kjærsgaard Danish People's Party 22 24 13.25 Bendt Bendtsen Conservative People's Party (Denmark) 16 18 10.27 Marianne Jelved Danish Social Liberal Party 9 17 9.18 Holger K. Nielsen Socialist People's Party (Denmark) 12 11 5.99 Collective leadership Red–Green Alliance (Denmark) 4 6 3.40 Elected in the Faroe Islands Høgni Hoydal Republican 1 1 25.36 Republic (Faroe Islands) Anfinn Kallsberg People's Party (Faroe Islands) 0 1 24.02 Elected in Greenland Hans Enoksen Siumut 1 1 33.66 Josef Motzfeldt Inuit Ataqatigiit 1 1 25.04 Government Fogh Rasmussen I V–K Government after election Fogh Rasmussen II V–K 300px Most voted-for bloc by municipality 300px Most voted-for bloc by nomination district and constituency 300px Distribution of constituency and levelling seats General elections were held in Denmark on 8 February 2005.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p525 978-3-8329-5609-7 Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Venstre remained the largest party in the Folketing and his governing coalition with the Conservative People's Party remained intact, with the Danish People's Party providing the parliamentary support needed for the minority government. The Danish Social Liberal Party made the biggest gains of any party, although it remained outside the governing group of parties. The elections marked the second time in a row that the Social Democrats were not the largest party in parliament, a change from most of the 20th century. The Social Democrats lost five seats and leader Mogens Lykketoft resigned immediately after the elections. Voter turnout was 85% in Denmark proper, 73% in the Faroe Islands and 59% in Greenland.Nohlen & Stöver, p550 Background Prior to the SARS pandemic in 2003 and with Boxing Day tsunami in December 2004, Prime Minister Rasmussen called the elections on 18 January. Rasmussen still had almost a year left in his term, but he said that the country wanted to call the election before municipal elections in November. His reasoning was that he wanted a clear mandate for the municipal and county government restructuring that his government was implementing. In the previous elections in 2001, the governing coalition of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party had won 94 of the 175 seats together with the supporting Danish People's Party. Electoral system This was the last election in which the counties were used as constituencies. Campaign Venstre campaigned on their municipal restructuring plan, as well as a continuation of the "tax-freeze" and tight immigration requirements. They also promised to see 60,000 jobs created during a second term. The largest opposition party, the Social Democrats focused on employment, which they claim has decreased under the current government. The Danish People's Party, which supported the Venstre–Conservative coalition, criticized the "tax-freeze" but agreed, conditionally, to support it for another parliamentary term. They also wanted increasingly tough immigration restrictions. Results 63 out of the 179 members of the new Folketing were newly elected. Although women made up 38% of the total, several women held prominent positions, notably Pia Kjærsgaard, leader of the third largest party, the Danish People's Party. Marianne Jelved (leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party), Connie Hedegaard (Minister of the Environment), Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil (front figure of Enhedslisten) and Helle Thorning-Schmidt (later elected as leader of Social Democrats) were other important woman in the parliament. A couple of parties, including the Social Democrats were holding leadership races, which might have been won by women. 9 of the top 20 candidates, in terms of personal votes, were women. File:2005 Danish general election Result.svg Denmark proper Venstre 974636 52 –4 Social Democrats 867349 47 –5 Danish People's Party 444947 24 +2 Conservative People's Party 344886 18 +2 Danish Social Liberal Party 308212 17 +8 Socialist People's Party 201047 11 –1 Red–Green Alliance 114123 6 +2 Christian Democrats 58071 0 –4 Centre Democrats 33880 0 0 Minority Party 8850 0 New Independents 1211 0 0 27348 4003616 0 y Faroe Islands Republican Party 6301 1 0 People's Party 5967 1 +1 Social Democratic Party 5518 0 0 Union Party 5333 0 –1 Centre Party 829 0 New Self-Government 585 0 0 Independents 309 0 New 94 34166 0 y Greenland Siumut 7761 1 0 Inuit Ataqatigiit 5774 1 0 Democrats 4909 0 New Atassut 3774 0 0 Independents 841 0 0 457 39588 0 Danmarks Statistik, Nohlen & Stöver Maps Aftermath Following the elections, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen reformed his liberal-conservative cabinet as the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen II with parliamentary support from Danish People's Party. See also List of members of the Folketing, 2005–2007 References Further reading Pedersen Karina November 2005 The 2005 Danish general election: A phase of consolidation West European Politics 28 5 1101–1108 10.1080/01402380500311848 153566223 Parliamentary election General Category:Folketing elections