Jacob Christensen

Brad deLong takes on the New York Times and find that its journalists are gagged.

Talk of an early election has been the rage among Danish journalists during the last week – it has been noted that Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been closing a number of policy accounts lately, even to the extent of giving an interview to Ekstra Bladet’s Bo Elkjær about the Iraq war.

Rasmussen had refused to meet Elkjær for four years in a process that even involved the ombudsman and often bordered on the parodic.

Today, Transport Minister Flemming Hansen announced that he would resign both his office and his parliamentary seat “at the next election”. According to his own statement, Mr. Hansen had made up his mind during the Christmas holidays but wanted to finish a number of negotiations before going public.

And while we’re at it: Pollsters have asked if Danish voters thought an autumn election would be acceptable.

Constitutional note: A Danish Prime Minister can dissolve parliament and call an election at nearly any time. A PM is only blocked from calling an election in the time between his appointment and his presentation of the new government’s programme to parliament. Election campaigns usually last three to four weeks.