Economic focus delivers surprise win for Greenland democrats
The opposition liberal party, Democrats, focused on the economy rather than solely on Greenland's independence, won Tuesday's parliamentary elections in this autonomous territory dependent on Denmark. They secured 29.9% of the votes, according to preliminary results published on the Valg.gl election office website.
By Wednesday morning, votes cast in all 72 polling stations had been counted.
The leader of the victorious Democrats, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, emphasized during the election campaign that one should focus on current affairs and "make haste slowly" regarding independence. He promised, among other initiatives, to lower taxes. The victory of the Democrats, who previously held only three seats in the 31-seat parliament, is being described as a "huge surprise."
In second place was the party advocating for rapid independence - the Naleraq group, with 24.5% of the votes. This party is also the only one that explicitly promotes closer relations with the USA.
Prime Minister: We respect the choice of Greenlanders
The leftist party of the current Prime Minister Mute B. Egede, Inuit Ataqatigiit (AI), achieved the third-best result with 21.4%. Prime Minister Egede admitted defeat. - We respect the choice of Greenlanders, he told the Greenlandic public broadcaster KNR.
The fourth party in the new parliament will be the social-democratic Siumut party, which was previously in the governing coalition, receiving 14.7% of the votes.
The conservative Atassut party, traditionally advocating for maintaining ties with Denmark, will also enter the parliament with 7.3% of the votes.
The election of 31 deputies to the Greenlandic parliament generated particular interest due to the announcement by most of the six parties participating in the elections of the start of the process of declaring independence. Simultaneously, Greenland became the focus of interest from US President Donald Trump, who announced intentions to acquire the island.
