COPENHAGEN: Danes voted Tuesday in a general election, where Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is seen as the favorite after standing up to US President Donald Trump over Greenland.&nbsp;Frederiksen, a Social Democrat who has been in office since 2019, has been praised for her leadership after fending off Trump&#39;s repeated demands to annex Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory he claims the United States needs for national security reasons.&nbsp;&quot;We stand firm when the winds blow. And it has been blowing around our kingdom,&quot; she wrote on Instagram, as she spent part of the day in Aalborg, her electoral stronghold in the country&#39;s northwest, with Greenlanders living in Denmark.&nbsp;The latest polls give the left-wing bloc, for which Frederiksen is the self-proclaimed candidate, a nine-seat lead over the right-wing bloc, but neither side is projected to win a majority of the 179 seats in Denmark&#39;s parliament, the Folketing.&nbsp;&quot;People may not really like her, but they see her as the right leader,&quot; Elisabet Svane, political analyst at Danish newspaper Politiken, told AFP.&nbsp;Frederiksen, who had &quot;a prime minister you can count on&quot; as one of her campaign slogans, &quot;is a unifying figure in a world full of insecurity, and Danes are quite anxious -- there&#39;s Greenland, Ukraine, (and mystery) drones&quot; that flew over the Scandinavian country last year, Svane said.&nbsp;The four overseas seats held by Denmark&#39;s two autonomous territories -- two for Greenland and two for the Faroe Islands -- could tip the balance if the election result is very close.&nbsp;More than 3,000 kilometers away, in Greenland&#39;s capital Nuuk, voters were lining up to cast their ballots as soon as polling stations opened.&nbsp;Serious situationThe campaign has generated more interest than usual in the vast Arctic territory, with more than 20 candidates in the running for the two seats.&nbsp;&quot;I think it&#39;s the most important election for the Danish parliament in Greenland in history,&quot; Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told AFP in Nuuk.&nbsp;&quot;We are in a time where we have a superpower trying to acquire us, take us, control us,&quot; he added, stressing that the territory still found itself in a &quot;serious situation&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;I think the most important thing that all the parties in Greenland have agreed on is that we need to work together, whoever gets elected for the parliament,&quot; he said.&nbsp;But Greenlandic voter Lars did not share the view that Greenland&#39;s parties stood more united, saying he kept seeing divisions play out on social media.&nbsp;&quot;Everybody is fighting. Greenlanders are fighting. It&#39;s terrible,&quot; the lawyer told AFP.&nbsp;Greenland&#39;s main political parties all want independence from Denmark, but differ on the pace of the separation.&nbsp;The centrist Moderate party, led by Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, a two-time former prime minister, could end up kingmaker.&nbsp;New beginningIn Denmark, the row over the vast Arctic island has however not been central in the campaign.&nbsp;In the wealthy nation of six million people, the campaign has instead focused on domestic issues, including inflation, the welfare state and high nitrate levels in water from agriculture.&nbsp;&quot;I think that the center government has not ensured clean water in Denmark. They have not ensured that we have invested in welfare instead of taxation reliefs,&quot; Pia Olsen Dyhr, leader of the socialist Green Left, told AFP after casting her voting.&nbsp;In a country where the far right has heavily influenced policy since the late 1990s, immigration has also been a hot topic, with the Social Democrats advocating even tighter regulations.&nbsp;Frederiksen has also defended as &quot;fair&quot; a proposal to deny non-essential health care to people of foreign origin who threaten medical personnel.&nbsp;Three populist parties are also in the running and opinion polls see them garnering around 19 percent of the vote.&nbsp;The most established of those is the far-right Danish People&#39;s Party, which slumped in the 2022 election but has seen an upswing in opinion polls.&nbsp;&quot;I want a new beginning for Denmark, and that requires a strong Danish People&#39;s Party,&quot; party leader Morten Messerschmidt told AFP after voting in Copenhagen.&nbsp;Elections in Denmark enjoy high participation rates and in 2022, 84.1 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot.&nbsp;Polling stations in Denmark close at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT), with exit polls expected to be published just after.&nbsp;

Europe

Denmark held a general election with PM Mette Frederiksen favored to win. Campaign focused on domestic issues, while Greenland’s vote and far-right parties could influence the final balance in parliament.

Denmark votes in close election, outgoing PM tipped to win

COPENHAGEN: Denmark said Monday it would summon the US ambassador after President Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to Greenland, the Danish autonomous territory he has threatened to annex.&nbsp;Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly said the US needs the resource-rich island for security reasons, and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.&nbsp;On Sunday, Trump appointed the governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, as special envoy to Greenland.&nbsp;Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Monday he was &quot;deeply angered&quot; the move and warned Washington to respect Denmark&#39;s sovereignty.&nbsp;In a post on his social media platform Truth Social early on Monday, Trump said Landry &quot;understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country&#39;s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.&quot;&nbsp;Landry responded directly to Trump in a post on X: &quot;It&#39;s an honour to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US.&quot;&nbsp;The Danish foreign minister told television TV2 the appointment and statements were &quot;totally unacceptable&quot; and said his ministry would call in the US ambassador in the coming days &quot;to get an explanation&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;As long as we have a kingdom in Denmark that consists of Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland, we cannot accept that there are those who undermine our sovereignty,&quot; he said.&nbsp;Greenland&#39;s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen meanwhile, said the appointment &quot;doesn&#39;t change anything for us here at home&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;We will determine our future ourselves. Greenland is our country,&quot; he wrote on Facebook, adding: &quot;Greenland belongs to Greenlanders, and territorial integrity must be respected&quot;. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa stressed on social media that territorial integrity and sovereignty were &quot;fundamental principles of international law&quot;. &quot;These principles are essential not only for the European Union, but for nations around the world. We stand in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland,&quot; they wrote on X. Strategic locationThe vast majority of Greenland&#39;s 57,000 people want to become independent from Denmark, but do not wish to become part of the United States, according to a January opinion poll.&nbsp;Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly insisted that the huge Arctic island is not for sale and that it will decide its future itself.&nbsp;&quot;The appointment confirms the continued American interest in Greenland,&quot; Lokke Rasmussen said in a statement emailed to AFP.&nbsp;&quot;However, we insist that everyone, including the US must show respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark.&quot;&nbsp;Greenland is strategically located between North America and Europe at a time of rising US, Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have opened up because of climate change.&nbsp;Greenland&#39;s location also puts it on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States. In August, Denmark summoned the US charge d&#39;affaires after reports of attempted interference in Greenland.&nbsp;Trump&#39;s determination to take over Greenland has stunned Denmark, a fellow member of NATO that has fought alongside America in its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.&nbsp;In January, Copenhagen announced a $2-billion plan to boost its military presence in the Arctic region.

Americas

Denmark will summon the US ambassador after Trump appointed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland. Denmark and Greenland insist on sovereignty, rejecting US claims, amid the island’s strategic Arctic significance.

Articles tagged with "greenland"

Denmark votes in close election, outgoing PM tipped to win

Fuming Denmark summons US ambassador over Greenland envoy