The right brothers

 

 

In what promises to be a season of stormy political debates and cunning manoeuvres in days to come, Denmark’s centre-right government of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has won a snap election, securing a third successive stretch in Danish parliament. His Liberal-Conservative alliance won 90 of the 179 seats that were open for contest. The centre-left, led by the Social Democrats, secured 84 seats. Rasmussen, 54, defeated 40-year-old Social Democrat head Helle Thorning-Schmidt, securing the slimmest possible majority.

The win has assured Rasmussen a green signal for the proposed tax cuts and continuation of stringent existing policies on asylum-seekers and refugees, which he supports. He is also expected to use his triumph to stand firm against sturdy wage increases in a public sector wage round next year. With all the votes counted, Mr Rasmussen’s Liberal Party lost six of its seats to secure 46 berths in Folketing, the Danish parliament, while the Conservatives remained unaffected at 18. But the coalition’s majority was guaranteed thanks to a robust performance by the right-wing Danish People’s Party (DPP). The minority Liberal-Conservative cabinet has until now counted on the support of the DPP. Mr Rasmussen’s bloc now has to settle on whether to include the lately formed New Alliance Party, headed by Naser Khader, a Syrian-Palestinian émigré. The party secured five seats. Reacting to the results, noted Denmark analyst Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard, told TSI: “Rasmussen will have depend on New Alliance for the tax reforms to get passed. Although, if it comes to a life-and-death scenario, he will not need them, but in realistic affairs of state, on a day-to-day basis, he, in all probability, will.”

Although Mr Khader maintained his preference would be to side with the prime minister, many now anticipate parleys along the way. An alliance including the anti-immigrant DPP and Mr Khader’s party could also be rickety. The issues of welfare, tax reforms and immigration led to a good deal of campaign squabbling and that too in a communal environment. DPP supported Jylland-Posten was responsible for publishing derogatory cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.

“They will have quite a difficult time to get true influence in the government,” said Kasper Hansen, political analyst in Copenhagen, while talking to TSI. “Despite the close result, the election changed little in Danish politics. The broad left-right division in the country remained intact,” He added. Certainly, a perfect recipe for a veritable powder-keg.