dpa
Copenhagen
Greenland was set to undergo a significant political shift on Wednesday following parliamentary elections, with two opposition parties that favour independence from Denmark emerging as the strongest forces in the Greenlandic parliament.
Under the shadow of threats by President Donald Trump to incorporate the world’s largest island into the United States, the centre-right opposition Demokraatit (Democrats) achieved 29.9% of the vote, a jump of over 20 points from the last election in 2021, becoming the largest force in the autonomous Danish territory’s parliament in Nuuk, known as the Inatsisartut.
Naleraq (Point of Orientation), which would like to see independence from the kingdom of Denmark achieved much sooner than the Democrats, garnered 24.5% the vote, more than doubling its previous showing. By contrast, the two governing parties coming into Tuesday’s vote - the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit (Community of the People, IA) and the social democratic Siumut (Forward) - saw their support slump by around 15 percentage points each: IA to 21.4% and Siumut to 14.7%.
IA, led by Prime Minister Múte B Egede, and Siumut were generally considered the strongest forces in Greenlandic politics. Turnout in the election, in which just over 40,000 Greenlanders out of a total population of 57,000 were eligible to vote, was just under 71%.
Since the formation of Greenland’s first independent government in 1979, Siumut and IA have always provided the prime minister. IA initially governed for a year in coalition with Naleraq in the last government but, due to controversies in this coalition, IA partnered with Siumut from 2022. Now, it falls to the 33-year-old Democrat leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen to form a new government. He announced during the night that he would extend his hand to all other parties, including Naleraq, which is viewed critically in many parts of the political spectrum.
“This is the second largest party, so we cannot avoid them,” Nielsen said on election night, according to the Danish broadcaster DR. He simultaneously advocated a “calm approach” towards the United States and stated that a “foundation” must first be established before discussing the creation of an independent state.
