Inger Støjberg and Lars Løkke Rasmussen are former Liberal colleagues who are at the head of new political parties with the potential to shake up the establishment at the general election on 1 November.
While Støjberg is committed to supporting the blue bloc, but on her terms, Rasmussen has not yet indicated that he will wholeheartedly support left or right, underscoring his status as the undoubted kingmaker of this year’s competition.
During the last week, his center party the Moderates have made significant ground, collects another 3.2 percent of the national vote to sit at 6.5 percent (12 seats in the Folketing), according to the latest Epinion poll for DR.
Meanwhile, Støjberg’s Danish Democrats would only win two seats more than the Moderates, as in recent weeks they have lost 2.3 percent of their share to just 8.0 percent of the public vote.
The overall result, based on the opinion poll, is that the red bloc would win 87 mandates and the blue bloc 76, but 88 with the support of the Moderates. Should the Faroe Islands and Greenland (two mandates each) vote the same as in 2019, the red bloc will win 90 to 89.
Not enough budget to compete properly
When Støjberg launched her new party in June, subsequent polls showed that her party had over 10 percent of the public vote.
However, the party’s political spokesman, Peter Skaarup, remains optimistic.
“I think there was an incredibly positive atmosphere when we started, and today to stand at 8 percent as a completely new party, I think is really good,” he told DR.
“But it’s worth remembering that we don’t have a huge campaign apparatus like the Social Democrats, Venstre or Conservatives, which get large sums of money for an election campaign. We’re doing the best we can.”
Are the Danish Democrats a victim of their own politics?
Pounds has questioned whether the drop in popularity is directly related to the Danish Democrats revealing more of their politics.
The voters more or less knew that the party will slow down Muslim immigration and prioritize the regions over the capital. But now they know more details.
For example, Støjberg will earmark nine weeks of parental leave with funds taken from reducing aid to developing countries. She will also eat into cultural funds and allocate more to the travel allowances paid to commuters who live in the regions.
In addition, Støjberg has warned the blue bloc’s two potential leaders that they must earn her support by promising not to abolish the top tax bracket and ensure that public consumption keeps pace with population growth.
One thing is certain, however: the Danish People’s Party is not complacent, as it is only expected to win 2.3 percent of the vote, just 0.3 percent above the threshold for representation – a barrier the Alternative has recently broken through, as it now commands. a share of 2.4 per cent.
Talks about Løkke’s chances for a third term as prime minister
In the meantime, a number of political commentators, together with the former foreign minister and Liberal Alliance leader Anders Samuelsen, have counted up Løkke Rasmussen’s chances of becoming prime minister.
Samuelsen claims that Rasmussen, and not Conservative leader Søren Pape Poulsen, should be included in the PM candidate debates.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Liberal leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen and Ramussen “are the right candidates for the post. Now that debate would be interesting – and it would set fire to the election campaign,” he wrote on Twitter.
“It will reflect to a greater extent the real possibilities for who can sit in the Prime Minister’s Office,” declared expert Henrik Qvortrup.
Rasmussen has not ruled himself out, and says to DR: “I know in myself that I have the skills to be able to compete for the job”, but that overall he does not think it is realistic.
Ramussen is in favor of a government across the middle formed by the Social Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives and his party the Moderates. If elections were held today, they would win 53.4 percent of the vote.
Source: The Nordic Page