The 2024 European Parliament election in Denmark was held on 9 June 2024. The elections were held as part of the wider
2024 European Parliament election
The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...
, but did not take place in the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
and
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
, which are not part of the European Union.
da
Background
In February 2023, the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament (AFCO) released a draft report by
Lóránt Vincze and
Sandro Gozi
Sandro Gozi (Sogliano al Rubicone, 25 March 1968) is an Italian politician, former Undersecretary of State for European Affairs in the Matteo Renzi and Paolo Gentiloni governments.
In France, he was advisor for European affairs in the governmen ...
on the composition of the European Parliament in order to respect the principle of degressive proportionality (enshrined in the
TEU). It was approved by both the AFCO on 12 June 2023, as well as EP
plenary
Plenary is an adjective related to the noun plenum carrying a general connotation of fullness.
Plenary may also refer to:
*Plenary session or meeting, the part of a conference when all members of all parties are in attendance
**Plenary speaker, ...
on 15 June.
The final report was adopted by the European Council on 22 September 2023. With its implementation, Denmark was allocated an additional seat for the European Parliament elections, changing the number from 14 to 15.
On 31 March 2023,
Christel Schaldemose
Christel Schaldemose (born 4 August 1967) is a Danish politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2006. She is a member of the Social Democrats, part of the Party of European Socialists.
In parliament, Schaldemo ...
was nominated as the main candidate of the
Social Democrats
Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
.
On 15 April 2023,
Henrik Dahl announced his candidacy for
Liberal Alliance.
On 22 April 2023,
Morten Løkkegaard was nominated as the main candidate for
Venstre.
On 26 May 2023, an electoral alliance was announced between the
Social Democrats
Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
,
Green Left
The term green left refers primarily to a political affiliation that combines elements of green politics and left-wing politics in countries where the term is used. It is primarily a social justice and human rights oriented ideology, with an exp ...
, and
The Alternative.
On 16 October 2023, an electoral alliance was announced between the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
and
Liberal Alliance
On 7 January 2024,
Martin Lidegaard
Martin Lidegaard (born 12 December 1966) is a Danish politician who has been the leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party, Social Liberal Party since 2022. He was the Foreign Minister of Denmark, foreign minister in the government of Prime Minist ...
revealed, possibly by mistake, that the
Social Liberals
Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...
wished to join an electoral alliance with
Venstre. On 16 January 2024, sources of
Altinget
''Altinget.dk'' or most often simply ''Altinget'' is a politically independent Danish online newspaper covering Danish politics. It has are the largest editorial staff at Christiansborg, the home of the Danish Parliament, the Folketing. It has off ...
said that the two parties and the
Moderates
Moderate is an ideological category which entails Centrism, centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical politics, radical or extremism, extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religi ...
would join an electoral alliance. It was officially announced on 26 January 2024.
On 10 January 2024,
Pernille Vermund
Ann Pernille Vermund Bretton-Meyer (born 3 December 1975) is a Danish architect ( MAA) and politician, being a member of the Folketing since 2019. She is known for co-founding and being the leader of the national-conservative political party Ny ...
announced that
New Right and its parliamentary group would be dissolved, which caused the party to lose ballot access. On 8 March 2024, it gave up on contesting the election.
Electoral system
15 members of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
will be elected in
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
through a single
constituency
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
, using the
D'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...
. Parties can choose to either use
open list
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a Political party, party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, in which party lists ...
or
mostly closed list. Unlike in
parliamentary elections
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
, but similarly to
local elections
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...
, electoral alliances are allowed.
To be an eligible voter one must be at least 18 years old and meet one of the following requirements:
*Danish citizenship and permanent residence in Denmark or another
EU member state
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are party to the EU's founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. They have agreed by the treaties to share their o ...
;
or
*citizenship in another EU member state and resident in Denmark.
To contest the election, a party must either have earned representation at the
previous parliamentary election and still be represented in the
Folketing
The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...
9 weeks before the election date (7 April 2024), or earned representation at the
previous European Parliament election in Denmark and still be represented in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
9 weeks before the election date. If none of these criteria are met, a party must collect voter signatures from a number of voters equal to at least 2% of the valid votes at the last parliamentary election (70,680). The signatures must be submitted at latest 11 weeks before the election date (24 March 2024).
The election used the 92
Folketing nomination districts for administrative and statistical purposes, but they had no impact on the distribution of seats as Denmark forms a
single nationwide constituency for European Parliament elections.
Outgoing delegation
The table shows the detailed composition of the Danish seats at the European Parliament as of April 2024.
MEPs not standing for re-election
Parties running
Because no party managed to obtain the required signatures before 24 March 2024, only the 11 parties represented in the Folketing on 7 April 2024 were eligible to contest the election. Of the 11 parties contesting the election, 8 are currently represented in the European Parliament and are members of a group. Liberal Alliance, the Denmark Democrats, and the Alternative are not represented in the European Parliament, and are thus not part of any group, but intend to join
EPP,
ECR, and
Greens/EFA respectively in the event they obtain representation in the European Parliament.
Electoral alliances
For European Parliament elections in Denmark,
apparentment
Apparentment is the name given to the system, sometimes provided for in elections conducted according to the party-list proportional representation system, which allows parties to specify electoral alliances. The system has been used in Switze ...
s (or electoral alliances) are allowed. If parties agree to enter an electoral alliance, they will count their votes as one and be allocated seats as though it was one party, using the
D'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...
. When an electoral alliance has been allocated the number of seats it is entitled to, the seats will similarly be divided between them using the D'Hondt method. The following electoral alliances were submitted for the election:
Candidates
The following candidates are contesting the election for each party.
The candidates are listed in the order listed on the ballot throughout the country.
Opinion polling
The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The seats the result would produce is shown below the result for each party. The electoral alliances announced for this election are taken into account.
Results
Seat apportionment
The distribution of seats at the election was the same as what it would have been if electoral alliances were not possible.
Notes
References
{{Danish elections
European Parliament election
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.
Until 2019, 751 ...
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
June 2024 in Denmark
European Parliament elections in Denmark
Opinion polling in Denmark