Danish Politics is characterised by a vibrant support for our democracy. Currently, nine parties are represented in the Danish Parliament. This guarantees the need for compromises.

Danish Politics operates on the national level within a multi-party system, in which numerous parties have no chance of gaining a majority. Parties must work with each other to form coalition governments and/or minority cabinets. This also characterises the political system at the local level in the 98 communities. However, here we do find communities governed by majority.

Thus, to the uninitiated, Danish Politics usually seems very confusing. One reason is that there are so many political parties. Locally, this becomes even more confusing as local lists may play significant roles. In the following general introduction, these are left out of the equation.

A common denominator for all political parties is the manifest support for the welfare state. We may differ politically as to details concerning, for instance, the degree of support for the unemployed and the less fortunate among us. We do not, however, dispute the general idea. We know that we are lucky to live in one of the most well-organised societies in the world and we also appreciate the social cohesion, which characterises us. In general, we score high on indexes of happiness as well as anti-corruption.

Traditionally, Danish Politics is nevertheless divided into two blocks – blue (right-winged or liberal/conservative) and red (left-winged or socialist).

The main issue here is how to finance the well-fare state. Should we find the means trough growth in the private sector or should it be funded through raising taxes?

Political parties will be listed on this axis from blue to red in the following way (and with their Danish names):

Liberal Alliance, Venstre, Konservative, Radikale, Dansk Folkeparti, Socialdemokratiet, Alternativet, Socialistisk Folkeparti and Enhedslisten.

Our political landscape, however, is also divided according to our attitudes towards immigration and refugees. According to this axis (from the least positive to the most “open”), the parties must be listed like this:

Dansk Folkeparti, Socialdemokratiet, Konservative, Venstre, Liberal Alliance, Radikale, Socialistisk Folkeparti, Alternativet, and Enhedslisten.

Finally, a significant division in Danish politics concerns our environmental engagement. Here we find an axis reaching from the least to the most engaged, which looks like this:

Venstre, Liberal Alliance, Dansk Fokeparti, Socialdemokratiet, Socialistisk Folkeparti, Radikale, Koncervative, Alternative and Enhedslisten.

This means, for instance, that if your vote for the Conservative People’s Party (Konservative) you will get a dedication to a responsible economic policy paired with a marked social engagement and an overwhelming focus on our natural and cultural heritage as well as the environment.

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