Danish Elections have endorsed the current Centre-Right Coalition

February 9, 2005 Copenhagen – The Danish people have voted to keep the current centre-right political coalition of the Venstre (The Liberal Party), Det Konservative Folkeparti (Conservative People's Party) and the Dansk Folkeparti (Danish People's Party). Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal Party retained the largest number of seats in parliament. The governing coalition between the Liberals and Conservative People's Party remained intact. They will likely be supported largely by the Danish People's Party, which gained 2 seats. The Radikale Venstre (Radical Left) party gained the most seats of any party, although it remains outside the governing group of parties. The election marked the second time in a row that the Social Democrats were not the largest party in the parliament, a change from most of the 20th century. The party lost 5 seats and leader Mogens Lykketoft resigned immediately after the election.

Venstre, the liberal party of the prime minister, campaigned on their municipal restructuring plan, as well as a continuation of the "tax-freeze" and tight immigration requirements. They also promised to see 60,000 jobs created during a second term.

The largest opposition party, the Socialdemokraterne (Social Democrats) led by Mogens Lykketoft focused on employment, which they claim has decreased under the current government.

The Dansk Folkeparti, who support the Venstre-Conservative coalition, criticized the "tax-freeze" but agreed, conditionally, to support it for another parliamentary term. They also wanted increasingly tough immigration restrictions.

Results
Going into the election, the governing coalition had 94 of the 175 seats up for election. (Danish overseas territories designate four additional representatives).

PRELIMINARY NATIONAL SUMMARY ================================================================================ Votes and seats are compared with those won at the elections of November 2001

Party                                     Votes   %     Change   Seats   Change Centre-Democrats (CD)                    33,611   01.0  -00.8      -      00 Danish People's Party (DF)              444,257   13.2  +01.2     24     +02 Unity List-The Red Greens (ERG)         113,687   03.4  +01.0      6     +02 Conservative People's Party (KF)        345,104   10.3  +01.2     19     +03 Christian People's Party (KrF)           57,815   01.7  -00.6      -     -04 Radical Left (RV)                       307,306   09.2  +04.0     16     +07 Social Democracy in Denmark (SD)        867,857   25.9  -03.2     47     -05 Socialist People's Party (SF)           201,224   06.0  -00.4     11     -01 Left, Liberal Party of Denmark (VDLP)   974,700   29.1  -02.1     52     -04 Others                                    8,672   00.3             - Total                                 3,354,233                  175