The Inatsisartut (, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Greenland in English, is the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

(

legislative branch A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

) of

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 ...

, an

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be defi ...

territoryMultiple sources: * * * in the

Danish Realm The Danish Realm, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply Denmark, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united by the Constitution of Denmark, Constitutional Act, which applies to the entire territor ...

. Established in 1979, the parliament convenes in the Inatsisartut building, located on an islet in

Nuuk Centrum Nuuk Centrum is a district of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. Together with the Old Nuuk neighborhood, it encompasses the southern and central part of the town. Most of the institutions and businesses are based in the district. Transport Nuup ...

in central

Nuuk Nuuk (; , formerly ) is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. It is also the seat of gove ...

. The Inatsisartut is composed of 31 members, who are elected for four-year terms through

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. Its functions include electing its presidium, debating and passing legislation, scrutinizing the government, and discussing financial matters. The

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 ...

is elected by the Inatsisartut, and appoints the members of the

Naalakkersuisut The Naalakkersuisut or the Government of Greenland () is the chief executive body, the cabinet and the government of Greenland since the island became self-governing in 1979. As an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is a p ...

(Government) with parliamentary approval. The parliament has the authority to remove the cabinet or an individual minister through a

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

. The Prime Minister holds the prerogative to call for an early election, dissolving the parliament.

History of the parliament

The Parliament of Greenland succeeded the provincial council () on 1 May 1979. The parliament is led by a presidency comprising four members of the parliament, and the chairman. There are 31 members in the Inatsisartut.

Speaker

The

Presidium A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some countries' political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one. The term is also sometimes used for the ...

of the Inatsisartut is made up of a Speaker and four Vice Speakers, all elected from among the members of the parliament. The Speaker is the presiding officer, holds a full-time position and carries out the duties of the Presidium. Following a

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 ...

, the Prime Minister nominates the Speaker, who must then be confirmed by the members of the parliament. The Presidium is responsible for a range of duties regarding the routine administration of the Inatsisartut, including overseeing the working conditions of parliamentarians and managing interactions between the parliament and the government. The Presidium also acts as the public representative of the parliament, ensuring efficient communication of parliamentary activities and outcomes to the public. It is also tasked with the archiving of parliamentary records and documents. The speaker is the presiding officer of the Inatsisartut. The speaker determines which members may speak, and is responsible for maintaining order. On 3 October 2018, Siumut had

Vivian Motzfeldt Vivian Motzfeldt is a Greenlandic politician who has been serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greenland since 2022. Prior to that, she served as the speaker of the Inatsisartut, the Parliament of Greenland, and the chairwoman of Siumu ...

, the outgoing Foreign Minister, elected. On 16 April 2021,

Hans Enoksen Hans Enoksen (born 7 August 1956) is a Greenlandic politician who has been a member of the Parliament of Greenland since 1995, and was prime minister of Greenland from 2002 to 2009, the third to hold the position. A monolingualism, unilingual Gre ...

was elected again. The current Speaker of the Inatsisartut is

Kim Kielsen Kim Kielsen (born 30 November 1966) is a Greenlandic politician and former police officer who has served as Speaker of the Inatsisartut since 2025. He previously served as leader of the Siumut party and sixth prime minister of Greenland betwe ...

, who served as

from 2016 to 2021.

Membership

Members of the Inatsisartut are elected through a general, direct, free, equal, and secret vote. In order to be eligible, candidates must be eligible to vote themselves and must not have committed criminal offenses that would generally disqualify them from holding office, known as the "integrity requirement." The extent to which a candidate meets this requirement is determined by the Inatsisartut, based on the recommendations of the Committee for the Scrutiny of Eligibility, after the election has been held. To run in an election for the Inatsisartut, candidates must also be registered on the

electoral roll An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, voters list, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is ...

, which has the following requirements: * The voter must be a

Danish citizen The primary law governing nationality of Denmark is the Danish Citizenship Act (), which coming into force, came into force on 27 May 1950. Regulations apply to the entire Danish Realm, which includes the country of Denmark itself, the Faroe Is ...

, at least 18 years old on the election date, and have permanent residence in Greenland for at least six months immediately prior to the election. * The voter must not have been declared incapable of managing their own affairs. Election results are counted using the

D'Hondt system 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 ...

, a method of

. Since 1998, Greenland has ceased to be divided into electoral districts, with the entire country now serving as a single constituency.

Recent results

The most recent elections were held on 11 March 2025.

Composition since 1979

Source
timeline> # definer farverne Colors= id:NQ value:rgb(0.63,0.21,0.61) legend:Nunatta_Qitornai_(Separatists) id:IA value:rgb(0.67,0.14,0.16) legend:Inuit_Ataqatigiit_(The_socialists) id:PI value:rgb(0.81,0.09,0.10) legend:Partii_Inuit_(Inuit_party) id:Siu value:rgb(1,0.01,0.01) legend:Siumut_(Social_democrats) id:Aku value:rgb(0.8,0.7,0.1) legend:Akulliit_Partiiat_(Centre_party) id:Sul value:rgb(0.19,0.07,0.47) legend:Suleqatigiissitsisut_(Cooperation) id:Dem value:rgb(0.08,0.18,0.29) legend:Demokraatit_(Democrats) id:PN value:rgb(1,0.41,0) legend:Partii_Naleraq_(Point_of_orientation) id:Ata value:rgb(0.17,0.6,0.59) legend:Atassut_(Liberals) id:IP value:rgb(0.1,0.6,0.9) legend:Issittup_Partiia_(Polar_party) id:Kat value:gray(0.7) legend:Kattusse_qatigiit_(Independents) id:And value:gray(0.9) legend:Others id:grau value:gray(0.8) # grafisk ImageSize = width:800 height:500 # * störrelse ialt PlotArea = left:80 right:10 top:30 bottom:140 # * plotfladen og rande Legend = columns:4 left:30 top:100 columnwidth:200 Period = from:0 till:31 # fra .. til .. TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal # tidlinje horizontal Alignbars = late ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 # skalering 10 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:0 gridcolor:grau BarData = # valgaar bar: 1979 text:"1979" bar: 1983 text:"1983" bar: 1984 text:"1984" bar: 1987 text:"1987" bar: 1991 text:"1991" bar: 1995 text:"1995" bar: 1999 text:"1999" bar: 2002 text:"2002" bar: 2005 text:"2005" bar: 2009 text:"2009" bar: 2013 text:"2013" bar: 2014 text:"2014" bar: 2018 text:"2018" bar: 2021 text:"2021" bar: 2025 text:"2025" PlotData = # Data bjaelkerne shift:(-3,-4) fontsize:M textcolor:white width:18 bar: 1979 from:0 till:13 color:Siu text:"13" bar: 1979 from:13 till:21 color:Ata text:"8" bar: 1983 from:0 till:2 color:IA text:"2" bar: 1983 from:2 till:14 color:Siu text:"12" bar: 1983 from:14 till:26 color:Ata text:"12" bar: 1984 from:0 till:3 color:IA text:"3" bar: 1984 from:3 till:14 color:Siu text:"11" bar: 1984 from:14 till:25 color:Ata text:"11" bar: 1987 from:0 till:4 color:IA text:"4" bar: 1987 from:4 till:15 color:Siu text:"11" bar: 1987 from:15 till:26 color:Ata text:"11" bar: 1987 from:26 till:27 color:IP text:"1" bar: 1991 from:0 till:5 color:IA text:"5" bar: 1991 from:5 till:16 color:Siu text:"11" bar: 1991 from:16 till:18 color:Aku textcolor:black text:"2" bar: 1991 from:18 till:26 color:Ata text:"8" bar: 1991 from:26 till:27 color:IP text:"1" bar: 1995 from:0 till:6 color:IA text:"6" bar: 1995 from:6 till:18 color:Siu text:"12" bar: 1995 from:18 till:20 color:Aku textcolor:black text:"2" bar: 1995 from:20 till:30 color:Ata text:"10" bar: 1995 from:30 till:31 color:And textcolor:black text:"1" bar: 1999 from:0 till:7 color:IA text:"7" bar: 1999 from:7 till:18 color:Siu text:"11" bar: 1999 from:18 till:26 color:Ata text:"8" bar: 1999 from:26 till:30 color:Kat textcolor:black text:"4" bar: 1999 from:30 till:31 color:And textcolor:black text:"1" bar: 2002 from:0 till:8 color:IA text:"8" bar: 2002 from:8 till:18 color:Siu text:"10" bar: 2002 from:18 till:23 color:Dem text:"5" bar: 2002 from:23 till:30 color:Ata text:"7" bar: 2002 from:30 till:31 color:Kat textcolor:black text:"1" bar: 2005 from:0 till:7 color:IA text:"7" bar: 2005 from:7 till:17 color:Siu text:"10" bar: 2005 from:17 till:24 color:Dem text:"7" bar: 2005 from:24 till:30 color:Ata text:"6" bar: 2005 from:30 till:31 color:Kat textcolor:black text:"1" bar: 2009 from:0 till:14 color:IA text:"14" bar: 2009 from:14 till:23 color:Siu text:"9" bar: 2009 from:23 till:27 color:Dem text:"4" bar: 2009 from:27 till:30 color:Ata text:"3" bar: 2009 from:30 till:31 color:Kat textcolor:black text:"1" bar: 2013 from:0 till:11 color:IA text:"11" bar: 2013 from:11 till:13 color:PI text:"2" bar: 2013 from:13 till:27 color:Siu text:"14" bar: 2013 from:27 till:29 color:Dem text:"2" bar: 2013 from:29 till:31 color:Ata text:"2" bar: 2014 from:0 till:11 color:IA text:"11" bar: 2014 from:11 till:22 color:Siu text:"11" bar: 2014 from:22 till:26 color:Dem text:"4" bar: 2014 from:26 till:29 color:PN text:"3" bar: 2014 from:29 till:31 color:Ata text:"2" bar: 2018 from:0 till:8 color:IA text:"8" bar: 2018 from:8 till:17 color:Siu text:"9" bar: 2018 from:17 till:18 color:NQ text:"1" bar: 2018 from:18 till:24 color:Dem text:"6" bar: 2018 from:24 till:25 color:Sul text:"1" bar: 2018 from:25 till:29 color:PN text:"4" bar: 2018 from:29 till:31 color:Ata text:"2" bar: 2021 from:0 till:12 color:IA text:"12" bar: 2021 from:12 till:22 color:Siu text:"10" bar: 2021 from:22 till:25 color:Dem text:"3" bar: 2021 from:25 till:29 color:PN text:"4" bar: 2021 from:29 till:31 color:Ata text:"2" bar: 2025 from:0 till:7 color:IA text:"7" bar: 2025 from:7 till:11 color:Siu text:"4" bar: 2025 from:11 till:21 color:Dem text:"10" bar: 2025 from:21 till:29 color:PN text:"8" bar: 2025 from:29 till:31 color:Ata text:"2"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Inatsisartut Politics of Greenland Political organisations based in Greenland Politics of Denmark

1979 establishments in Greenland

Parliament of Greenland