Opposition leader Mette Frederiksen from The Danish Social Democrats leaves after casting her vote during the Danish Parliamentary Election 2019, in Copenhagen, Wednesday 5 June 2019. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The latest on Denmark’s general election (all times local):

The leader of Denmark’s Social Democrats says voters have decided a new direction and a new government in the country’s general elections.

A nearly complete preliminary count from Wednesday’ voting suggests left-leaning parties made gains that if confirmed by final returns would put the Social Democrats back in power after four years in opposition.

Party leader Mette Frederiksen says that “tonight we have gotten a victory” for the center-left. The Social Democrats and four other left-leaning parties appear headed to having 91 seats in the new parliament, one more than a majority.

The Social Democrats are emerging as parliament’s biggest party. It got 26.1% of the votes Wednesday, after a campaign in which the party’s leaders vowed a tough stance against immigration.

Denmark’s center-right prime minister has conceded defeat in general elections where results show left-leaning parties making large gains that will likely put the Social Democrats back in power after four years in opposition.

Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen says he will resign Thursday from the post he has held since 2015. His Liberal Party is getting 23.4% of the votes in Wednesday’s elections, which is an improvement. But a huge loss by the populist Danish People’s Party means he will no longer muster a majority in the 179-seat Folketing.

Loekke Rasmussen says his government will continue as caretaker, and adds that he will recommend a governing coalition with the Social Democrats and his Liberal Party.

Exit polls in Denmark say that the opposition bloc that includes the center-left Social Democrats will get the most votes in the general election.

The polls by broadcaster DR mean that the Social Democrats, which took a tougher stance on immigration, are on course to return to power after four years in opposition.

The party led by Mette Frederiksen got 25.3% of the vote, according to the exit polls and would be supported by other left-leaning parties that also made gains. Together they will get 90 seats – which is a majority.

The center-right side would only get 75 seats in the 179-seat parliament. The remaining four seats are held by lawmakers on the Faeroe Islands and Greenland — two Danish semi-autonomous territories.

And unlike in other European countries, far-right populists aren’t on the rise. Denmark’s second-largest party, the populist Danish People’s Party, which has been supporting the minority government, got 9.8% compared to 21.1% in 2015, according to the DR exit polls.

The DR exit polls were based on 4,550 people who were interviewed after casting their ballots.

Polling stations across Denmark have opened in a general election to renew the 179-seat Folketing at the end of its four-year term.

Unlike in other European countries, far-right populists don’t seem to be on the rise here, and the center-left Danish Social Democrats may come back to power after four years in opposition, albeit on a tough immigration line.

The five-party so-called red bloc that includes the Social Democrats faces a center-right blue bloc that is losing steam and is splintered into eight parties, of which three are newcomers, including two openly anti-Muslim groups.

The Social Democrats, Denmark’s largest party, have “a positive feeling about this election,” said Nicolai Wammen, the party’s No. 2 official, while warning against calling it a done deal. </s> Mette Frederiksen of The Danish Social Democrats address the media after finalizing the government negotiations shortly after midnight at Christiansborg Castle in Copenhagen, Denmark, early Wednesday June 26, 2019. Frederiksen announced that The Danish Social Democrats will form a minority government backed by three other left-wing parties. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Three left-wing parties in Denmark are backing the center-left Social Democrats to form a one-party minority government.

The deal would make the Social Democrats’ leader, 41-year-old Mette Frederiksen, the country’s youngest prime minister after the left-leaning party won the June 5 election.

The Social Democrats won by embracing restrictive immigration policies, a pragmatic tactic that involved returning to the party’s anti-migrant roots after two decades of relatively more liberal policies. Denmark’s largest party had been in the opposition for the past four years.

Despite differences over welfare and immigration, the left-leaning parties want to back Frederiksen, who is expected to form a government in the next few days. Minority Cabinets are common in Denmark.

Frederiksen admitted it would be a “tough and difficult task.”

“These are four very different parties, and no doubt parties with major disagreements on several political issues,” she said late Tuesday after 21 days of talks with the Social People’s Party, the Red Green Unity List and the centrist Social Liberals.

Frederiksen said the deal identified several goals, including promoting integration in Denmark and reversing the previous government’s decision not to accept any refugees under a U.N. quota system.

The U.N. refugee agency has made deals with countries, including Denmark, to take in refugees. Since 1989, Denmark has accepted about 500 such refugees every year.

The government also wants to fight plastic pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% ahead of 2030, a goal praised by Greenpeace.

The four Danish parties also agreed to drop plans to put rejected asylum-seekers and foreigners convicted of crimes on a tiny island that formerly housed facilities for researching contagious animal diseases. They also would reverse some austerity measures in health care and education.

Inger Stoejberg, the outgoing immigration minister known for being a hardliner, criticized the Social Democrats for striking a deal that compromised their self-declared tough immigration stance. They had promised “a strict immigration policy” but “one can’t trust” them, she said.

The June 5 elections for Denmark’s 179-seat Folketing, or Parliament, dealt a blow to the populist, anti-immigration Danish People’s Party, which had been supporting Denmark’s center-right prime minister, who resigned. Former Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen failed to keep a majority in parliament after his allies saw their vote share plunge to 8.7% in the June election from 21.1% in 2015. </s> Social Democrats in Denmark get support to form new govt

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Three left-wing parties in Denmark are backing the center-left Social Democrats to form a one-party minority government.

The 18-page deal would make the Social Democrats' leader, 41-year-old Mette Frederiksen, the country's youngest prime minister after the left-leaning party won the June 5 election.

The Social Democrats won by embracing restrictive immigration policies, a pragmatic tactic that involved returning to the party's anti-migrant roots after two decades of relatively more liberal policies. Denmark's largest party has been in the opposition for the past four years.

Despite differences over welfare and immigration, the left-leaning parties want to back Frederiksen, who is expected to form a government in the next few days. Minority Cabinets are common in Denmark.

The deal came late Tuesday after 21 days of talks with the Social People's Party, the Red Green Unity List and the centrist Social Liberals.

Frederiksen said the deal identified several goals, including promoting integration in Denmark; basing immigration on "common sense;" reversing the previous government's decision not to accept any refugees under a U.N. quota system; fighting plastic pollution; and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 70% ahead of 2030.

The U.N. refugee agency has made deals with countries, including Denmark, to take in refugees. Since 1989, Denmark has accepted about 500 such refugees every year.

The four Danish parties also agreed to drop plans to put rejected asylum-seekers and foreigners convicted of crimes on a tiny island that formerly housed facilities for researching contagious animal diseases. They also would reverse some austerity measures in health care and education.

The June 5 elections for Denmark's 179-seat Folketing, or Parliament, dealt a blow to the populist, anti-immigration Danish People's Party, which had been supporting Denmark's center-right prime minister, who resigned. Former Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen failed to keep a majority in parliament after his allies saw their vote share plunge to 8.7% in the June election from 21.1% in 2015. </s> Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced the election on Tuesday, with latest opinion polls showing the opposition left-wing bloc, headed by the Social Democrats, ahead with 54 percent of votes, compared to 46 percent for Rasmussen and his right-wing bloc.

Observers have suggested that the Social Democrats, the largest party currently in opposition, could form a minority government that would cooperate with the right-wing bloc on immigration issues and with the left on other policies.

That would be a significant break from the clear left- and right-wing or ‘red and blue bloc' party politics around which Danish politics has been based for decades.

The Social Democrats could also reach out to Danish People's Party leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl, who last year hailed the left party's shift towards a more restrictive immigration policy.

That change has been eyed warily by other left-wing parties, who are yet to pledge their full support for Social Democrats leader Mette Frederiksen.

A former employment minister who later took over the justice portfolio, Frederiksen presented proposals last year to send "non-Western" foreigners and "non-ethnic Danes" to UN camps in Africa.

Such anti-immigrant rhetoric, first introduced by the far-right, is now commonly used by the Social Democrats and other parties.

"The political climate has been anti-immigration for years. The Danish People's Party's agenda has been adopted by mainstream parties," Anders Widfeldt, a lecturer at Scotland's University of Aberdeen who specialises in Nordic politics, told AFP.

In this climate, two new far-right parties, pushing agendas to the right of the Danish People's Party, have emerged and are vying for seats in the election.

One of them, the New Right, which promotes libertarian economic policies, has called for even tighter immigration rules.

The other party, Stram Kurs, which means "Hard Line" in English, is headed by Rasmus Paludan, a vehemently anti-Muslim provocateur already convicted of inciting racial hatred and blocked by Facebook.

Rasmussen and Søren Pape Poulsen, leader of junior coalition partner the Conservatives, both said on Tuesday that they would not form any government that relies on Paludan's parliamentary support, should the fringe party reach the required threshold of 2 percent of votes required to enter the legislature. Last week, both Rasmussen and Poulsen initially declined to rule out working with Paludan, Politiken reported.

For Prime Minister Rasmussen, 54, an election defeat would in all likelihood put an end to his 25-year career in Danish politics.

At the head of the centre-right Liberal Party since 2009, he has served as prime minister, from 2009 to 2011 and 2015 to 2019, interrupted by a four-year Social Democratic government.

"Lars Løkke Rasmussen knows that if he loses he will also be finished as leader of his party," said Christine Cordsen, political analyst at public television DR.

Yet under his leadership, Denmark's economy has thrived. It is expected to grow by 1.8 percent in 2019 against 1.3 percent in the eurozone.

The country also has almost full employment, with a jobless rate of just 3.7 percent in March compared to 7.7 percent in the eurozone.

The Danish parliament, the Folketing, has 179 seats, including two each for its autonomous territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Parties must win at least two percent of votes to be represented in parliament.

Voter turnout is traditionally high in Denmark. In 2015, 85.9 percent of the 4.5 million eligible voters cast their ballots.

READ ALSO: Denmark general election: what party leaders are saying after vote date announced </s> Three left-wing parties in Denmark are backing the centre-left Social Democrats to form a one-party minority government.

The deal would make the Social Democrats’ leader, 41-year-old Mette Frederiksen, the country’s youngest prime minister after the left-leaning party won the June 5 election.

The Social Democrats won by embracing restrictive immigration policies, a pragmatic tactic that involved returning to the party’s anti-migrant roots after two decades of relatively more liberal policies. Denmark’s largest party had been in the opposition for the past four years.

Despite differences over welfare and immigration, the left-leaning parties want to back Frederiksen, who is expected to form a government in the next few days. Minority Cabinets are common in Denmark.

Frederiksen admitted it would be a “tough and difficult task.”

“These are four very different parties, and no doubt parties with major disagreements on several political issues,” she said late Tuesday after 21 days of talks with the Social People’s Party, the Red Green Unity List and the centrist Social Liberals.

Frederiksen said the deal identified several goals, including promoting integration in Denmark and reversing the previous government’s decision not to accept any refugees under a UN quota system.

The UN refugee agency has made deals with countries, including Denmark, to take in refugees. Since 1989, Denmark has accepted about 500 such refugees every year.

The government also wants to fight plastic pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent ahead of 2030, a goal praised by Greenpeace.

The four Danish parties also agreed to drop plans to put rejected asylum-seekers and foreigners convicted of crimes on a tiny island that formerly housed facilities for researching contagious animal diseases. They also would reverse some austerity measures in health care and education.

Inger Stoejberg, the outgoing immigration minister known for being a hardliner, criticized the Social Democrats for striking a deal that compromised their self-declared tough immigration stance. They had promised “a strict immigration policy” but “one can’t trust” them, she said.

The June 5 elections for Denmark’s 179-seat Folketing, or Parliament, dealt a blow to the populist, anti-immigration Danish People’s Party, which had been supporting Denmark’s centre-right prime minister, who resigned. Former Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen failed to keep a majority in parliament after his allies saw their vote share plunge to 8.7 per cent in the June election from 21.1 per cent in 2015.

Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today. </s> Denmark's Social Democrat leader has announced she will form a minority government after reaching an agreement with three left and centre-left parties after weeks of negotiations.

"Now we have reached the goal... we have shown that when Danes vote as they have done, a new majority can turn their hopes into actions," said Mette Frederiksen, who at 41 years old will become Denmark's youngest ever prime minister.

In a country where minority governments are the norm, the negotiations centred around conflicting demands on climate, economic and immigration policy.

Frederiksen said she will present the 18-page agreement on Wednesday, with the new government expected to be unveiled on Thursday.

The three-week negotiations were the longest in Denmark since 1988.

"It is a political document, one of the first in the world, that really defines green ambitions," she said, highlighting one of key concerns among voters and left-wing parties.

"We will develop a climate plan, a binding law on climate and reduce greenhouse emissions by 70 per cent."

The opposition Social Democrats won a June 5 general election as expected with 25.9 percent of votes, ousting Liberal prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen after several of his key allies suffered scathing losses at the polls.

With the backing of the three allies, the Social Democrats will hold a majority of 91 of 179 seats in parliament, while the right-wing won 79.

The Social Democrats adopted much of the far-right's hardline ideology and rhetoric on immigration, like most other parties in Denmark, pulling the rug out from under the far-right.

But under the agreement, the future government will welcome refugees using a quota system and abandon a plan to place migrants pending deportation on an uninhabited island.

The daily Politiken newspaper said Frederiksen had managed to keep some room for manoeuver in her agreement, with "all disagreements duly omitted".

But it added that retirement, housing and defence were likely to emerge as potential disputes. </s> Opinion polls put the opposition centre-left Social Democrats, led by Mette Frederiksen, at 27.2 percent, a comfortable lead of almost 10 percentage points ahead of Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's ruling Liberal Party, which has been in power for 14 of the last 18 years.

"Many voters want change. In particular, the 'millennials', who can vote for the first time," Flemming Juul Christiansen, a political scientist at Roskilde University, told AFP.

Like Gustaf Lindegaard who is voting for the first time, 57 percent of Danes think the next government should prioritise climate change, according to a Gallup poll published in February. For those aged between 18 and 35, the figure was 69 percent.

"I really think global warming is the most important issue," Lindegaard said.

**REMINDER: Join The Local from 8pm on Wednesday to follow the results of the Danish general election LIVE**

READ ALSO:



New priorities

The Socialist People's Party, heavily focused on environmental issues, is also expected to see a surge in its numbers, with opinion polls suggesting it could take 8.3 percent of votes, almost double its 2015 score.

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 the left or the right on a case-by-case basis to pass legislation.

As Denmark enjoys robust growth, almost full employment and strong public finances, the party has 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 collaborate with the right on immigration and the left on other matters in the Scandinavian country, which is a member of the European Union but not the eurozone.

However, with a splintered political landscape featuring an abundance of political parties, the party could also find it necessary to forge long-term alliances to ensure stability.



Immigration backdrop

While the Liberal Party is expected to lose its grip on power, its performance is projected to match that of the 2015 election.

On the eve of the election Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced a dramatic shift for the Liberals by declaring his priority was now to form a government with traditional rivals the Social Democrats.

But opinion polls indicate 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 percent.

For the last two decades the anti-immigrant party has supported successive right-wing governments in exchange for the implementation of their restrictive immigration policies.

But as those policies have now been broadly adopted by almost all Danish parties, the Danish People's Party has lost its unique appeal with voters.

The Social Democrats for instance last year announced their own proposal to crack down on immigration, including sending asylum seekers to North African camps while their requests are being 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.

"We stand by our firm and realistic policy when it comes to immigration. We believe that Denmark and other countries have a responsibility to help people in need but there is a limit to the numbers we can take in," said Nicolai Wammen, political spokesman for the Social Democrats.

The Danish People's Party's slide has in part benefitted the Social Democrats, but it also coincides with the emergence of two more extreme far-right parties, New Right and the anti-Muslim Hard Line.

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 percent of votes.

Voter turnout is traditionally high in Denmark. In 2015, 85.9 percent of voters cast their ballots.

Polls will be open from 8 am to 8 pm (0600 to 1800 GMT), with some 4.2 million people eligible to vote. </s> Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Tuesday called a general election for June 5, with opinion polls suggesting a left-wing opposition bloc will kick his centre-right coalition out of office.

Rasmussen, whose minority government relied on the informal support in parliament of the far-right Danish People's Party, has passed a string of laws tightening asylum and immigration rules.

"I want to use all of my strength, my capabilities and my experience to continue to lead Denmark. And I ask Danes to re-elect me in the legislative elections to be held on June 5," Rasmussen said in parliament.

His four-year term ends on June 17 and he was required to hold legislative elections before then.

The latest opinion polls suggest the opposition left-wing bloc, headed by the Social Democrats, will win 54 percent of votes compared to 46 percent for Rasmussen and his right-wing bloc.

The right-wing has struggled in recent polls amid voter apathy and an erosion in support for the far-right.

The Danish People's Party's longstanding anti-immigration line has now been broadly adopted by most political parties, including the Social Democrats.

Observers suggest that if the Social Democrats were to emerge as the biggest party, they would likely form a minority government that would cooperate with the right-wing bloc on immigration issues and with the left on other policies.

The Social Democrats could also reach out to Danish People's Party leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl, who last year hailed the left party's shift towards a more restrictive immigration policy.

That change has been eyed warily by other left-wing parties, who are yet to pledge their full support for Social Democrats leader Mette Frederiksen.

A former employment minister who later took over the justice portfolio, she presented proposals last year to send "non-Western" foreigners and "non ethnic Danes" to UN camps in Africa.

The anti-immigrant rhetoric, first introduced by the far-right, is now commonly used by all parties.

"The political climate has been anti-immigration for years. The Danish People's Party's agenda has been adopted by mainstream parties," Anders Widfeldt, a lecturer at Scotland's University of Aberdeen who specialises in Nordic politics, told AFP.

In this climate, two new far-right parties, pushing agendas to the right of the Danish People's Party, have emerged and are vying for seats in the election.

One of them, the New Right, which promotes libertarian economic policies, has called for even tighter immigration rules.

The other party, Stram Kurs which means "Hard Line" in English, is headed by Rasmus Paludan, a vehemently anti-Muslim provocateur already convicted of inciting racial hatred and blocked by Facebook.

For Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, 54, an election defeat would in all likelihood put an end to his 25-year career in Danish politics.

At the head of the centre-right Liberal Party since 2009, he has served twice as prime minister, from 2009 to 2011 and 2015 to 2019, interrupted by a four-year Social Democratic government.

"Lars Lokke Rasmussen knows that if he loses he will also be finished as leader of his party," said Christine Cordsen, political analyst at public television DR.

Yet under his leadership, Denmark's economy has thrived. It is expected to grow by 1.8 percent in 2019 against 1.3 percent in the eurozone.

The country also has almost full employment, with a jobless rate of just 3.7 percent in March compared to 7.7 percent in the eurozone.

The Danish parliament, the Folketing, has 179 seats, including two each for its autonomous territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Parties must win at least two percent of votes to be represented in parliament.

Voter turnout is traditionally high in Denmark. In 2015, 85.9 percent of the 4.5 million eligible voters cast their ballots. </s> Social Democrat Mette Frederiksen became Denmark's youngest ever prime minister Wednesday after finalizing the support of three other leftist parties to form government.

Frederiksen, 41, will lead a one-party minority government backed by the Socialist People’s Party, the Red-Green Alliance and the Social-Liberal Party.

A left-wing opposition bloc won a majority at Denmark's June 5 election, ending the rule of former conservative Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, but it took three weeks for Frederiksen to secure majority support for her new government.

"It is with great pleasure I can announce that after three weeks of negotiations, we have a majority to form a new government," she said, according to Reuters.

The June 5 left-wing electoral victory signalled Danish voters' rejection of austerity politics. The Social Democrats, who lost ground compared to the 2015 election but still hold the largest vote share, campaigned on a platform of higher taxes to bolster the welfare system.

In her bid for the prime ministership, Frederiksen mediated disagreement among the leftists on issues such as immigration and welfare. She rose to prominence with a pro-welfare, anti-immigration stance. But the new governing bloc will soften slightly on immigration, including allowing more foreign labor and reversing government plans to hold foreign criminals off-shore. Binding emissions targets were also part of the new government agreement.

Denmark's Social Democrats join their Finnish and Swedish counterparts in securing electoral victories in 2019.
The center-left Social Democrats win 48 of the 179 seats in the Folketing (parliament). Current Liberal Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen concedes defeat, paving the way for Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen, who at 41 is set to be the country's youngest prime minister.