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Parliament composition
as from November 2007
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Conservative People's Party (KF) |
18 |
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Total |
179 |
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Political System
Denmark is a parliamentary monarchy.
Head of State
The Danish monarchy is one of the oldest in the world and one of the most firmly established and popular institutions in Denmark. The current Queen is Margrethe II since 1972.
The Danish monarchy is constitutional, which means that the monarch cannot independently perform political acts. Although the monarch signs all acts, these only come into force when they have been countersigned by a cabinet minister. As head of state, the monarch participates in the formation of new governments.
After consultation with representatives of the political parties, the Queen asks the party leader backed by the largest number of seats in the Folketing, the Danish parliament, to try to form a government. She also formally heads the government and therefore presides over the State Council, where the acts passed by the Folketing are signed and thus come into force.
Government
Prime minister is Lars Lokke Rasmussen (Liberal Party).
The elections in 2001 was historic, because the Liberal Party became the largest party for the first time since 1924, and because the right-of-centre parties together gained a majority for the first time since 1929. The centre parties in the Folketing lost their traditional influence on the formation of the government. The election resulted in the formation of a minority government consisting of the Liberal Party and the Conservatrive People's Party - with the Danish People's Party as its parliamentary supporting party.
The non-socialistic government maintained its support at the elections in February 2007. The Liberal Party lost six seats, the Conservative People's Party maintained eighteen seats.
Formally the government is appointed by the monarch, but in practice a government is formed on the basis of negotiations among the parties, in order to find a constellation which does not have a majority against it. In other words, a government is not required to have the confirmed support of a majority.
Legislature
The Danish parliament, the Folketing, has 179 members, of whom 175 are elected in Denmark, two on the Faeroe Islands and two in Greenland. The seats are allocated to the parties on the basis of proportional representation, so that the constitution of the Folketing very closely reflects the party-political preferences of the total electorat.
The principal functions of the Folketing are the reading and passing of bills together with the control of government and administration. Ministers and any member of the Folketing may introduce bills, which have to be read three times in full session before they can be passed. Between each reading the bills are committed to debate by one of the 24 standing committees.
The main channel of political participation is the general election. Elections take place every four years, but the Prime Minister may call an election if he considers it politically necessary or advantageous, and he must call an election if the government receives a vote of no confidence in the Folketing. As no single party has had a majority in the Folketing since 1909, most Danish governments have been minority governments consisting of one or more parties. Prime ministers have therefor often made use of the right to dissolve the Folketing when the compromises required to obtain a majority have become too unacceptable for the government.
 Government of Anders Fogh Rasmussen
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Political System
