Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced early elections at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. The Danes will go to the polls on November 1 to elect a new parliament.
Elections in Denmark must be held every four years. It is the Prime Minister who decides on the timing. However, the elections are now being brought forward because the left-liberal party Radikale, which supports Frederiksen’s one-party government, had presented the Social Democrats with an ultimatum: either call new elections when parliament reopened yesterday/Tuesday after the summer recess or look forward to a motion by distrust.
Rumours of early elections have been buzzing in recent days. Frederiksen is now responding to that.
Everything goes back to the mink scandal. During the corona pandemic, Frederiksen ordered the killing millions of minks in the country, fearing that these animals would pass on the virus. However, it later emerged that the legal basis for this was lacking. An independent committee had strongly criticized the prime minister’s decision in a report.