The Alternative () is a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

and

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

political party in Denmark. The party was publicly launched on 27 November 2013 by former

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...

Uffe Elbæk Uffe Elbæk (born 15 June 1954) is a Danish politician, social worker, author, journalist, and entrepreneur. In 2013, he founded the green political party The Alternative, which he led until February 2020. He is an independent member of the Fol ...

and

Josephine Fock Josephine Fock (born 5 September 1965) is a Danish politician, who was a member of the Folketing for The Alternative from 2015 to 2018. She was the leader of the party from 1 February to 14 November 2020 after Uffe Elbæk resigned. Political ca ...

; Elbæk had been a parliamentarian for the Social Liberal Party. Elbæk was the leader of the party until February 2020, where he stepped down and was succeeded by Fock. Currently the party is led by

Franciska Rosenkilde Franciska Rosenkilde (born 19 March 1976) is a Danish geographer and politician who has been the leader of The Alternative since February 2021, replacing Josephine Fock. Alongside five other members of The Alternative, Rosenkilde was elected to ...

. It collaborates with

DiEM25 The Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, or DiEM25, is a left-wing European political alliance founded in 2016. It operates as a pan-European umbrella for subsidiary parties sharing the same name and branding (e.g. MeRA25, MERA25), and runs elect ...

at the European level. The Alternative regards itself as a political movement and a cultural voice, as well as a political party.

History

Founding

The Alternative was launched on 27 November 2013 by

and

, at a press conference at

Christiansborg Christiansborg Palace (, ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament (), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Also, ...

, the seat of 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 ...

, the Danish parliament. Other founders include Niko Grüfeld, Torsten Gejl, and Rasmus Nordqvist. The Alternative supported

Helle Thorning-Schmidt Helle Thorning-Schmidt (; born 14 December 1966) is a Danish retired politician who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015, and Leader of the Social Democrats from 2005 to 2015. She is the first woman to have held each p ...

, the incumbent prime minister from 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 ...

, but considered itself both left- and right-wing. The party emphasized the wish for a new political culture, serious

climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include energy conservation, conserving energy and Fossil fuel phase-out, repl ...

, and entrepreneurship. It did not have a full political agenda, but would instead develop it in "political laboratories" in cooperation with the Danish people. The new party had been planned for two months; Elbæk left the Social Liberal Party on 17 September 2013. The party's name was approved by the Danish Electoral Commission under the Ministry of Economy and the Interior, taking effect on 18 December 2013. At the beginning of 2015 the party worked on gathering the 20,260 signatures required to run for Parliament, which it succeeded in doing on 23 February 2015. The party aims to

crowdsource Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods and services, goods or services—including ideas, Voting, votes, Microwork, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary ...

policies through what it calls "political laboratories". The party obtained

ballot access Ballot access is rules and procedures regulating the right to candidacy, the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots in elections in the United States. The jurisprudence o ...

for the 2015 general election with the letter Å on the electoral lists on 13 March 2015.

2015 election

In the

general election 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-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

on 18 June 2015, The Alternative received 4.8% of the vote, electing nine MPs and making it the sixth-largest party in the Folketing. In a famous interview on election night, Elbæk tried to speak, but instead ended up saying " … man, this is crazy!" The party supported the re-election of

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

leader

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. The party was part of the opposition to the third government of Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

2019 election

In the 2019 general election, The Alternative decided to support their own leader,

, for prime minister rather than support the Social Democrat leader, as they had done in 2015, due to what they called insufficient ambition in plans to deal with climate change. The party won a reduced five seats and went into opposition after Social Democrat leader

Mette Frederiksen Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been the Prime Minister of Denmark, prime minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Social Democrats (Denmark)#Leaders of the Social Democrats, leader of the Social Democr ...

became prime minister.

2020 leadership crisis

In December 2019, Elbæk announced that he would stand down as political leader of The Alternative. There were six candidates to succeed him, including Rasmus Nordqvist,

and Theresa Scavenius. Only Nordqvist was member of the Folketing, and all five members of the Folketing, including Elbæk, supported him. On an extraordinary congress on 1 February 2020, Josephine Fock was elected as the new political leader. Nordqvist subsequently resigned as political spokesperson, and was replaced by Torsten Gejl. Three weeks later, ''

Information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

'' published an article where anonymous sources accused Fock of verbally abusing and in some cases physically shaking party members and employees while she was a member of the Folketing from 2015 to 2018, during which she was temporarily leader of the parliamentary group. Fock said she did not recognize the descriptions of her, and categorically denied the accusations of shaking people, but said she was not "the best version of herself" in that period. After a meeting with Fock, the central board said they had full confidence in her, while inviting the anonymous sources to contact the central board. Magnus Haslebo, a former press officer in the Folketing, and Fanny Broholm, leader of the party's group on the

Copenhagen city council The Copenhagen City Council (Danish: ) is the municipal government of Copenhagen, Denmark, and has its seat at Copenhagen City Hall. The city council is Copenhagen's highest political authority and sets the framework for the committees' tasks. ...

, publicly supported the accusations of aggressive behavior, with Haslebo saying he had also heard rumors about the shaking. On 28 February,

Niko Grünfeld Niko Grünfeld (born 13 March 1975 in Sønderborg) is a Danish politician. He served as Mayor of Culture and Leisure to the Copenhagen Municipality from January to October 2018 for The Alternative (Denmark), The Alternative political party, which ...

, co-founder and former mayor in Copenhagen, left the party, saying that "the party's soul has been eaten away from within". After Elbæk said he would tell the central board what he knew, the central board said their support for Fock were only provisional, with more talks to be held. On 7 March, a slim majority in the central board gave Fock their support, with ten voting for and seven against. Following the decision, the party's local branch in Elbæk's constituency demanded that he publicly express full support of Fock, or they would withdraw their support of Elbæk. On 9 March, Uffe Elbæk left the party, saying he "no longer recognized" the party he founded. He was followed by three other member of the Folketing: Rasmus Nordqvist, Susanne Zimmer, and Sikandar Siddique. The fifth and last member of the Folketing, Torsten Gejl, decided to stay after some days of thought. Nordqvist subsequently joined the Socialist People's Party. Political analysts called the departures the death of The Alternative. In her reactions, Fock said she was saddened by the departures, but that it was a "new beginning" for The Alternative. Elbæk, Siddique and Zimmer would later form a new political party, the Independent Greens, with Siddique as leader. On 14 November 2020, Fock stepped down as leader of The Alternative. On 7 February 2021, the party announced that Mayor of Culture and Leisure in Copenhagen

as their new leader. Ahead of the

2022 Danish general election General elections were held in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark on 1 November 2022, except in the Faroe Islands, where they were held on 31 October as 1 November was a national day of mourning for victims at sea. Of the 179 members of the Fo ...

offered the Independent Greens and The Vegan Party a chance to form a united list to increase the chances of

representation in the Folketing, as all three parties were polling below the threshold. Siddique dismissed the plan. Elbæk later called for the Independent Greens and Alternative to merge, and eventually rejoined the old party, reducing the number of sitting FG MPs to two. In the general election of 1 November 2022, the Alternative received 3.3% of the vote, up from 3.0% in 2019, securing 6 mandates in the

Policies

The party wants Denmark to make environmental sustainability the country's main priority. It wants fossil fuels to be phased out and

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

to be increased and used in their place, seeking Denmark to use 100% renewable energy by 2040. The Alternative supports the legalisation of cannabis in Denmark, including legal sales of cannabis and the legalisation of home growing. The party also supports an

unconditional basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform work. In ...

. In regards to prison reform the party seeks to take inspiration from the Norwegian prison system. It also wants Denmark to adopt an effective

four-day workweek A four-day workweek is an arrangement where a workplace or place of education has its employees or students work or attend school, college or university over the course of four days per week rather than the more customary five-day workweek. This ...

and to reduce the work week to 30 hours. In regards to tax, the party wants to introduce a

financial transaction tax A financial transaction tax (FTT) is a levy on a specific type of financial transaction for a particular purpose. The tax has been most commonly associated with the financial sector for transactions involving intangible property rather than rea ...

and lower taxes for those on the lowest incomes.

Parliamentary representation

2015

The members of Parliament from 2015 and their spokesperson assignments: *

: Leader of the Alternative *

: Political group leader of the Alternative. Spokeswoman for finance and economy, employment policy, constitution and legal policy * Rasmus Nordqvist: Political Spokesman for the Alternative. Spokesman for Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Entrepreneurship, Ethical Consumerism, Business, Trade, Art, and Culture *

René Gade René Gade Mikkelsen (born 31 January 1982 in Silkeborg) is a Danish politician, who was a member of the Folketing for The Alternative (Denmark), The Alternative from 2015 to 2019. René Gade Mikkelsen (born 31 January 1982 in Silkeborg) is a Dan ...

: Spokesman for Defense, Taxes, and Digital Constitutional Rights. * Torsten Gejl: Spokesman for Domestic Policy, Pattern Breaking and Social Affairs * Roger Matthisen: Spokesman for Cities and Residences, Rural Districts, Islands, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland *

Ulla Sandbæk Ulla Margrethe Sandbæk (born 1943) is a former Denmark, Danish Member of the European Parliament for the June Movement. She served from 1994 to 2004. She was responsible for the Sandbæk report that resulted in a European Union regulation incr ...

: Spokesman for Ecclesiastical Affairs, Naturalisation, Integration and Development * Carolina Magdalene Maier: Spokesman for Health, Psychiatry, Equal Rights, Youth, Family, Senior Citizens, Education, Research, Schools, and Youth Education Programs * Christian Poll: Spokesman for Environment, Climate, Energy, Agriculture, Animal Welfare, Fisheries, Food, and Transport

2019

The following members were elected to the Folketing in 2019 * Uffe Elbæk (left the party in March 2020) * Torsten Gejl * Rasmus Nordqvist (left the party in March 2020) * Sikandar Siddique (left the party in March 2020) * Susanne Zimmer (left the party in March 2020)

2022

The following members were elected in 2022., , , , *

: Political leader * Torsten Gejl: Political spokesperson * Helene Liliendahl Brydensholt *

Sascha Faxe Sascha Faxe (born 4 August 1971) is a Danish politician who has served as Member of the Folketing for The Alternative (Denmark), The Alternative since the 2022 Danish general election, 2022 election. Career Despite standing and receiving 1,192 ...

* Christina Olumeko * Theresa Scavenius

Election results

Parliament

Local elections

European Parliament

Notes

References

External links

Official site in Danish and English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alternative Political parties established in 2013 2013 establishments in Denmark Green political parties in Denmark Nordic Green Left Alliance Political parties supporting universal basic income Progressive parties Pro-European political parties in Denmark