Jacob Christensen

I just cast my vote(s) in a Danish election for the first time since 1998 (the referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty).

Having polls with two different electorates is uncommon in Denmark (it happened in 2001 when local and national elections were held on the same day) but my local polling station was organised quite smoothly: First, there was a tier of voting booths for the referendum and then you passed on to a second tier of voting booths for the EP election.

The big question now is: Will the Act of Succession make it or not? The pollsters have calculated that we will need a turn-out of 52,5 per cent if the proposal is to get past the 40 per cent-hurdle. The share of no-votes looks to be surprisingly large.

The EP election is less exciting: The latest polls all show that Social Liberals and the June Movement look set to lose representation, the Social Democrats will suffer heavy losses while the Socialists and the Danish People’s Party are the big winners.

In seven hours’ time, we will know more.

Update I: Roger Buch from the College of Journalism in Århus (or whatever that institution is called in English) asks the sensible question – why wasn’t the referendum placed in November with the local elections? Turn-out would have been around 70 per cent and the adoption of the proposal as good as certain.

Update II: Palle Svensson of Århus University points out that a “blank” vote can be interpreted in five different ways.

PS: I have deadlines on two articles during the coming week, so don’t expect any profound postings here. Apologies.

A Very Short Note on the Danish Votes...
On the Simple Art of Reporting Opinion Polls...
Exit Poll Exit?...
You Know, This Election Could Be a Thriller...
The Blessing of the True Conservatives...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.