PROGRESS TO ATASSUT
Although it did not result in a seat in the Danish Parliament, it is not the last time voters will see Ellen Schärfe’s name on the candidate list.
The voices ran slowly into Tuesday evening, when the polling stations closed around Greenland, and a picture slowly began to emerge.
A safe seat for Naleraq and a fight for the second mandate between two members of Naalakkersuisut from IA and Demokraatit.
And then there was another name which went again from place to place. Ellen Schärfe from Atassut.
She ended up with 1553 personal votes. Fourth most out of the 27 nominated candidates. Not enough for a parliamentary seat, but enough for a significant increase for Atassut, which went from 3.7 percent in 2022 to 10.7 percent this year.
– I am very humble and really grateful for the support I have received from everywhere. It also confirms my desire to get more and more involved in politics, and that there is a need for someone like me to secure Atassut’s position in the political arena, she says the next day.
Ellen Schärfe believes that the progress of Atassut – which, despite a good election, still became the smallest party – is an expression of the fact that citizens have begun to understand where Atassut actually stands in relation to the Commonwealth of Nations and domestic politics.
Will not be a politician for a living
It is not the first time that you could find Ellen Schärfe on the candidate list – although it has been some time. In 1998, she was elected as the last Member of Parliament for Atassut.
But how is it that voters still remember her after so many years away from politics?
– I believe exactly this, that I am able to talk to people, not just to people, and that I am down-to-earth and know how things really are outside the political arena.
– I have promised myself and the voters that I will not end up as a politician for a living and just try to stay on the hot seat, whereas it has been important for me to also get out of politics in order to be an ordinary citizen and know what is really going on in society, she says.
But despite good support from the voters, it did not result in a parliamentary seat for either Ellen Schärfe or Atassut. But that’s not the last the voters have seen of her.
– Now I am back in politics, and there should be no doubt that the day the election for Inatsisartut is announced, my name will also appear on the list of candidates, she says.
Citizens must be at the centre
However, Ellen Schärfe will not take all the credit for Atassut’s election results. She emphasizes the party’s policy, which has focused on an equal commonwealth, but also an equal society in Greenland.
Among other things, when it comes to putting citizens at the center. She finds that much legislation has been based on an original law in Denmark, which has then been applied in Greenland. And that must be dealt with.
– There is a need for us to begin to think more about the Greenlandic traditions, the Greenlandic culture and language, what kind of values we have here in Greenland as a society. Things should not be Greenlandized as such, but we must start to get our own identity into the legislation as well, by making it more simple and relevant, says Ellen Schärfe.
But it also requires citizens to start getting involved, she says. On Tuesday, 52 percent of those entitled to vote were down and cast a vote, and even though it is a high turnout for a general election, it is still too low, believes the Atassut politician.
– I think it is worrying to see that the turnout is so low in many places. So I would also like to encourage people to start getting involved.
– What good does it do to sit back and have a bad feeling about the election results if you haven’t cast your vote?
