…And They’re Off!
Some hour ago, the Danish Prime Minister called a general election for Tuesday, 13 November 2007. As luck would have it, I’m pretty much off-line during the coming one-and-a-half week which means that I will not be blogging regularly about the campaign but I will offer you some points for discussion:
- This is indeed a “snap” election: 13 November is less than three weeks away. As the Danish election register is completely computerised and automated, this is not a problem for the electoral rolls, but some parties (i.e. Ny Alliance) may have difficulties in registering candidates.
- This electoral term was only two years and nine months. Unusually short for a government with a stable parliamentary majority (it is a minority government but the Danish People’s Party has been the regular supporting party)
- This will be the first general election after the local government reform which was implemented on 1 January 2007. As part of the reform, the constituencies were redrawn and even if this should not affect the distribution of seats between parties, it could affect the chances of individual candidates. (Information in Danish from the Ministry of the Interior: a) New division of constituencies, b) calculation of constituency and supplementary seats under the new division)
- Opinion polls have been jittery during the last six months: Indications are that the Liberal-Conservative coalition has an advantage but that it may need both Ny Alliance and Danish People’s Party to form a majority after an election.
- Potential jokers: a) The Unity List – how will the debate over Asmaa Adbol-Hamid affect the party’s electoral chances? b) Ny Alliance – will the new party be able to field candidates and present a credible platform in less than three weeks?
If you read Scandinavian and want the inside dope, I’ll point you at Jarl Cordua (Jarls blog) and David Troels Garby (Dansk-Politik.dk) as the most all-round interesting bloggers. Real insiders, or people with lots of money can try Altinget.dk.
The main parties are here (also in Danish):
- Unity List / Enhedslisten
- Socialist Party / SF
- Social Democrats / Socialdemokraterne
- Social Liberals / Det radikale Venstre
- New Alliance / Ny Alliance
- Liberals / Venstre
- Conservatives / Det konservative Folkeparti
- Danish People’s Party / Dansk Folkeparti
As said above, I can’t promise regular blogging – and I’m not a political journalist anyway – but I promise to return if only as the Wednesday morning quarterback on 14 November.
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