General elections in Denmark

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General elections in Denmark also known as Folketing elections (Danish: folketingsvalg) must be held at least every four years to elect all 179 members of the Danish Parliament, the Folketing. 175 members in Denmark, two in Greenland and two on the Faroe Islands are elected to the Folketing which is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark; Denmark proper, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The first general election took place on 4 December 1849 after the adoption of the country's first constitution (Grundloven) the same year. With the 1953 constitutional revision, the upper house named the Landsting was abolished with Denmark’s transition from bicameralism to unicameralism.

Legal basis

The Danish electoral system is regulated by the Folketing Election Act (Folketingsvalgloven). A series of basic principles regarding the voting rights, voting eligibility and voting methods are defined in the Grundlov of 1953.

The Grundlov's chapter 4 establishes the following:

• The Folketing consists of a maximum of 179 members, of which 2 are elected in Greenland and two on the Faroe Islands.
• The Folketing is elected by general, direct and secret elections
• The election method must ensure an equal representation of the views among voters and be done by using the proportional voting method, possibly in combination with elections in single-person constituencies.
• In the distribution of local mandates, account must be taken of population, number of voters and population density.
• The Folketing is elected for 4 years.
• The mandates do not expire until new elections have taken place.
• The Folketing itself determines the validity of its members' elections.
• The King can call for new elections at any time, whereby the existing mandates expire once the elections have taken place. (The role of the king/queen is considered formal. In reality, it is the prime minister who decides when general elections will be held.)

In one case, the government must resign: If it receives a vote of no confidence from the Folketing. If it cannot get the National Budget (Finalsloven) passed in the Folketing, it is common for this to lead to the fall of the government. In these cases, new elections must either be called or (after a Queen's round) a new negotiator must be found in order to find a candidate for prime minister who is not in the minority in the Folketing.

The Grundlov leaves it to the Folketing to lay down the detailed rules for the exercise of the right to vote and the voting method itself. This is regulated in the Folketing Election Act

Normally, it is assumed that a general election can be called with three weeks' notice, based on the deadlines in the Election Act. The provision that the King can call new elections at any time, however, implies that certain deadlines in the electoral law must give way to the words of the constitution, if the election is called at short notice. The minimum time between the announcement of the election and its holding is thus determined purely for practical reasons. In practice, there have also been seen both shorter and longer periods before the election.

Constituencies in the Kingdom

Folketing constituencies in Denmark.

Following the municipal reform of 2007 and the laws on general elections in both Greenland and the Faroe Islands, the Kingdom of Denmark is divided into three parts of the country and constituencies.

Denmark is divided into 10 large constituencies with a total of 92 constituencies.

The Faroe Islands and Greenland are divided into constituencies.

In order to determine the distribution of mandates, the general election uses a combination of proportional elections in so-called large constituencies (constituency mandates) and nationwide supplementary mandates, which even out the result so that it reflects the strength of the parties at national level.

References

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