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Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Fredericksen, at a press briefing in Berlin, Germany. Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Fredericksen, at a press briefing in Berlin, Germany, July 11, 2019 (Photo by Annegret Hilse for dpa via AP Images).

What Can Denmark’s Left Do With Its Largest Mandate in 60 Years?

Monday, Aug. 19, 2019

Denmark became the third Nordic country to form a center-left government this year after the Social Democratic Party won elections in June. The Social Democrats’ leader, Mette Fredericksen, became the country’s youngest prime minister at the age of 41, forming a one-party minority government with the support of three other left-leaning parties. Social democratic parties have also prevailed in elections in Sweden and Finland this year, seemingly bucking a continent-wide populist trend. But in Denmark, the Social Democratic Party won largely due to its sharp rightward turn on immigration, which allowed it to siphon off votes from the right-wing Danish People’s Party. In an email interview with WPR, Karina Kosiara-Pedersen, an associate professor of political science at the University of Copenhagen, discusses the factors that propelled the Social Democrats to victory and the challenges of implementing their ambitious agenda.

World Politics Review: What allowed the Social Democratic Party to prevail in the election, and why did it opt to form a minority government? ...

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