Lars Løkke Rasmussen, whose Liberal party has led a centre-right coalition since 2001, conceded defeat late on Thursday night, clearing the way for the leader of the Social Democratic party to become Denmark’s first woman prime minister.
The centre-left “red bloc” was on course for 92 seats in the 179-member parliament, ahead of the ruling “blue bloc” on 87, with all votes counted.
“Today is the day things change in Denmark,” Ms Thorning- Schmidt said at a party rally in Copenhagen on Thursday night.
“This evening we’ve shown that the Social Democrats are a big and driving force in Denmark. We’ve written history today.”
Her victory will reduce the influence of the populist Danish People’s party, whose role as a crucial government ally for the past decade has seen Denmark adopt some of the strictest anti-immigration laws in Europe.
Opinion polls have been predicting a change of government for months amid continued weakness in the Danish economy three years after a property crash tipped the country into recession.
However, with less than 1 percentage point separating the two sides’ share of the vote, the opposition was left relying on seats from semi-autonomous Greenland and the Faroe Islands to be sure of victory.
While her Social Democratic party will be the biggest force in government, it looked set to win one seat fewer than at the last election, with the “red bloc” owing its victory to big gains by the centrist Social Liberals and leftwing Red-Green Alliance.
Mr Rasmussen’s Liberal party managed to pick up an extra seat, making it the biggest party in parliament, but losses among other “blue bloc” parties cost his government power.
Ms Thorning-Schmidt has promised stimulus measures to revive growth, including increased spending on health and education. This would be financed by higher taxes on banks and high earners, as well as a one-hour increase in the working week for all Danes.
“This is not an election where we hand out gifts. It is an election where we ask everyone to contribute more,” said Ms Thorning-Schmidt this week.
During the campaign, Mr Rasmussen condemned the opposition plans as “irresponsible wishful thinking” which would erode competitiveness and weaken public finances.
He proposed controversial cuts in retirement benefits to tackle a budget deficit forecast to reach 4.6 per cent of gross domestic product next year in a sharp reversal of Denmark’s traditional fiscal strength.
“We need sound public finances without raising taxes,” he told reporters after casting his vote.
Mr Rasmussen has been prime minister since 2009, when his predecessor, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, became secretary-general of Nato.
The opposition victory marked a change in fortune for Europe’s centre-left after a period when the centre-right has been in the ascendancy.
The anti-immigrant Danish People’s party looked set to lose two seats. Analysts said this reflected the shift in focus from immigration, which has dominated recent Danish elections, to economic issues in this year’s campaign.
Ms Thorning-Schmidt has vowed to “change the tone” of debate over immigration after a period when Denmark’s reputation for tolerance and liberal values has often been called into question.
However, analysts cautioned against interpreting an opposition victory as a sign that anti-immigrant sentiment was fading.
“One of the reasons it has diminished as an issue is that the left has adopted, at least in terms of rhetoric, the same restrictive stance on immigration as the right,” said Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard, politics professor at the university of Copenhagen.
Michael Staehr, economist at Sydbank, said there was concern in financial markets over opposition plans to raise taxes on banks given the troubled state of the country’s banking sector. Two small Danish banks have been taken into state control this year and others are facing severe stress.
Bo Sandemann Rasmussen, politics professor at Aarhus university, said that, for all the heated campaign rhetoric, the policy differences between the two sides were fairly limited. “The change will not be that big,” he said.
By Andrew Ward taken from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1695494-dfb3-11e0-8e15-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Y7iWYH73
No comments:
Post a Comment