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Danish leader quits in bid to form new Cabinet despite win

Published:Wednesday | November 2, 2022 | 9:22 AM
Denmark's Prime Minister and head of the Social Democratic Party Mette Frederiksen reacts before giving a speech during the country's general election night at the party's office in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, November 1, 2022. (Nikolai Linares/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Despite finishing first in Denmark's election, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen decided to step down along with her Social Democratic government Wednesday in an attempt to build a broader coalition across the political divide.

Frederiksen's announcement came after a dramatic vote count in which the centre-left bloc that has backed her since 2019 retained its majority in Parliament by a single seat.

In theory, the 44-year-old Social Democratic leader could have stayed in power as head of a minority government.

But she said she would stick to promises made before Tuesday's election to try to form a wider governing coalition that includes parties on the centre-right.

”I am happy, proud, and grateful,” Frederiksen said.

“It has been a very difficult few years to be prime minister: first the pandemic, now inflation. A lot indicated that a sitting government would not achieve reelection.”

Frederiksen handed her resignation Wednesday to Queen Margrethe, Denmark's figurehead monarch. Frederiksen will remain as prime minister in a caretaking capacity until a new government is formed.

Frederiksen called the election last month amid fallout from her government's contentious decision to cull millions of minks as a pandemic response measure. The cull and chilling images of mass graves of minks have haunted Frederiksen since 2020 and eventually led to cracks in the centre-left bloc.

On Tuesday, the Social Democrats won 28% of the vote, or 50 seats in the 179-member Danish Parliament. 

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