Yesterday, Morten Messerschmidt received support from 499 Danish People’s Party delegates to succeed Kristian Thulesen Dahl as the new party leader – 60.5 percent of the vote.
The margin of victory was so emphatic that even if second-place Martin Henriksen (219) and Merete Dea Larsen (107) had combined their votes, they would have come a long way.
Last week, Erik Høgh-Sørensen withdrew in the hope that his votes would enable one of the other candidates to overtake Messerschmidt, but it was all in vain.
There was no stopping the politician whom the media has long called the ‘Crown Prince’: the natural replacement for the founder and longtime leader Pia Kjærsgaard, who is his greatest support.
Time to heal the wounds
Messerschmidt was gracious in his victory speech in Herning.“It’s not a case of ‘the winner takes it all’. Now the winner has an obligation to gather the party,” he said.
He offered an olive branch to his fellow candidates in light of a leadership competition that sometimes got a little ugly – by Danish standards
“I understand that such a process may contain some harsh words, but we must draw a line over all that,” he later told DR. “It’s extremely important that we listen to each other, and it’s important that both Merete and Martin’s thoughts are moving forward.”
Messerschmidt’s most vocal critic was health spokeswoman Liselott Blixt, who promised to leave the party if he won. However, she has already said she will wait until the party’s meeting on Tuesday to assess the situation.
Source: The Nordic Page