The center-left may lose control of Copenhagen for the first time in the city’s electoral history, as residents of the Danish capital go to the polls early amid growing dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s divisive policies.
Frederiksen’s Social Democrats ruled the city for over 100 years, electing every mayor of the city since the introduction of the current electoral system in 1938.
But this Tuesday, as Denmark votes in its municipal and regional elections, opinion polls suggest the most likely outcome will be the defeat of the party’s candidate, a former government minister handpicked by the prime minister.
Among the reasons cited by analysts were fatigue and frustration with Frederiksen’s hard-line policies on issues such as integration and immigration, which partly inspired the new asylum and immigration policy unveiled by the British government on Monday.
Bent Venter, political commentator for the Danish newspaper Berlingske, described the race for Copenhagen’s mayor as “the most open ever,” noting that “the rustle of the wings of history can be heard as it approaches City Hall.”
A Megaphone poll published by Danish television channel TV2 at the beginning of the month placed the Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti, SF), the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), and Alternative (Alternativet) in a position to form a left-wing majority without needing the support of the Social Democrats.
If confirmed, Sissy Marie Welling of the Green Left Party is among the top candidates for Copenhagen’s next mayor.
The Social Democratic candidate, Pernille Rosenkrantz Thiele, the former Minister of Social Affairs and Housing, is a friend of Frederiksen, with whom she shares a summer house.
“The Social Democrats have shifted politically to the right, becoming a right-wing populist party on issues like integration, unemployment benefits or the environment,” says Caroline Lindegaard, mayoral candidate for the Green Alternative party.
He defends this by saying: “This was a cynical strategic maneuver to avoid losing voters to the far right, but it appears, based on the polls, that all they achieved was to encourage their voters to join the far right rather than stick with the Social Democrats.”
He notes that some Copenhagen residents feel the Social Democrats have “let the city down,” citing the departure of long-time Copenhagen mayor Frank Jensen (2010-2020), who resigned in 2020 after being accused of sexual harassment.
“They are on track to worsen the housing crisis, miss the city’s climate goals, and maintain a car-centric urban model,” Lindegaard adds.
Peter Thisted Dinesen, a professor of political science at the University of Copenhagen, says it is “very likely” that the Social Democrats will lose capital, because the party’s anti-elite rhetoric may have alienated many in big cities. In recent years, Frederiksen has tried to ward off the far-right threat by appealing to working-class voters in rural areas of the country.
Although the situation will differ across the country, Dinesen expects the government’s declining popularity to “injure” the Social Democratic candidates more deeply.
“Maybe there’s a little fatigue with social democratic government,” he says. “They are increasingly challenged by other parties. In particular, by the far-right Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti, DF) which has already raised its positions on immigration and ‘re-immigration.’
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