Jacob Christensen

I think I was careless enough to promise some comments to Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s opening speech but my asthma is playing some tricks with me tonight. One of those days when the medicine leaves me with some minor side-effects with a distinct lack of concentration as the result.

Will try again tomorrow. Promise.

Politiken tells us:

Borgmester Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard har besluttet ikke at stille op til valget til overborgmester i København.

Or in English:

Mayor Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard has decided not to run in the election for Lord Mayor of Copenhagen.¹

I think the formulation may need a revision as Denmark does not have direct elections for the position as mayor in any of the local councils. Sure, the personality factor plays a larger role in local elections than in national elections but there is still ample room for hiccups in the process.

That said, our friends in Copenhagen are now in a situation where the lead candidate on the Social Democratic list, Frank Jensen, is the only candidate who have declared an interest in going for the position as Lord Mayor. The Liberals and Conservatives have defaulted, the Social Liberal lead candidate has been replaced de facto by #2 on the list and the Socialists have given up their hopes of winning Copenhagen. Still, there will be a fight for the six other mayoral posts and the distribution of portfolios.

Jarl Cordua has some fascinating discussions about local politics in Copenhagen – 1, 2 – and Information published this character assassination of Kjeldgaard last Friday.

1. Lord Mayor is a bad translation. we have a situation with seven mayors of which one is the chairman of the mayoral college. [↩]