Denmark went to the polls over a month ago, but the country still doesn’t have a new government. A new poll has revealed that the majority of voters are tired of waiting.
A new poll by Voxmeter for the Ritzau news wire has shown that 55 percent of voters think post-election negotiations have been going on for too long, and 57 percent want a new government to take office soon.
Denmark’s election was on March 24th and negotiations are now in their fifth week. Negotiations after the last election in 2022 lasted six weeks, which at the time was a new record.
A majority ‒ 52 percent ‒ is also in favor of introducing a time limit for politicians to form a government after elections.
According to the parties taking part in negotiations on Monday, discussions have entered a new phase, but sources speaking to Ritzau do not believe that a new government is just around the corner.
The Social Democrats’ political spokesperson Christian Rabjerg Madsen told Ritzau that he understands the public’s impatience.
“Even though I agree that it is important for us to have a government, I’m not sure a time limit is the correct solution,” he said. “All the politicians involved want there to be a new government as much as the rest of the population, but the politics are complicated.”
Peder Nedergaard, professor of political science at Copenhagen University, said that there is currently no limit for how long negotiations can continue.
“The constitution doesn’t set any limit for how long government negotiations are allowed to continue, and people always want the situation to be cleared up in this period, but these things take time,” he told Ritzau.
“I think we’re going to set a new record for the time taken to form a government,” he predicted.
Moderate party leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen ‒ whose party holds a crucial 14 seats and has a powerful kingmaker role ‒ was seen on Wednesday afternoon leaving negotiations with Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen, who has been nominated to lead negotiations. He did not make any comments to journalists on the way into negotiations or on the way out.
