Note: Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, called a snap general election for 1 November after a member of her ruling coalition threatened to withdraw its support over her handling of the country’s controversial Covid mass mink cull.   

At Stake in this Election:        

• 179 members of the Folketing of the Kingdom of Denmark 

Government Structure: 

• Chief of State: Queen Margrethe II 

• Head of Government: Prime Minister Mette FREDERIKSEN 

• Assembly: Unicameral Parliament consisting of a 179-member Folketing 

Electoral System: 

• The Chief of State is a hereditary role.  

• The Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party of Folketing, or more commonly, a majority coalition of parties.  

• Of the 179 members of the Folketing, 175 are elected in Denmark, 2 are elected in the Faroe Islands, and 2 are elected in Greenland. The 175 seats in Denmark include 135 seats elected in ten multi-member constituencies by proportional representation, using the d'Hondt method, and 40 leveling seats, allocated to parties in order to address any imbalance in the distribution of the constituency seats. They are elected to four-year terms.  

Main Parties in this Election:  

• Social Democrats / Socialdemokraterne 

• Leader: Mette FREDERIKSEN 

• Seats won in last election: 48 

• Venstre / Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti 

• Leader: Jakob ELLEMANN-JENSEN 

• Seats won in last election: 43 

• Danish People’s Party / Dansk Folkeparti 

• Leader: Morten MESSERSCHMIDT 

• Seats won in last election: 16 

• Danish Social Liberal Party / Det Radikale Venstre 

• Leader: Sofie Carsten NIELSEN 

• Seats won in last election: 16 

• Green Left / Socialistisk Folkeparti 

• Leader: Pia Olsen Dyhr 

• Seats won in last election: 14 

• Red-Green Alliance / Enhedslisten – De Rød-Grønne 

• Leader: Mai VILLADSEN 

• Seats won in last election: 13 

• Conservative People’s Party / Det Konservative Folkeparti 

• Leader: Søren Pape POULSEN 

• Seats won in last election: 12 

Population and Registered Voters: 

• Population: 5,910,577 (2022 est.)¹ 

• Registered Voters: 4,270,744 (2022)² 

Gender Data: 

• Female Population: 2,945,633 (2022 est.)³ 

• Is Denmark a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 Jul 1980)⁴ 

• Has Denmark ratified CEDAW: Yes (21 Apr 1983)⁵ 

• Gender Quota: None 

• Female Candidates in this election: Yes (38.4%)⁶ 

• Number of Female Legislators (pre-election): 71 out of 179 (39.7%)⁷ 

• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: Rank 6 at 0.948 (2022)⁸ 

• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A 

Disability Data: 

• Is Denmark a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 Mar 2007)⁹ 

• Has Denmark ratified CRPD: Yes (24 Jul 2009)¹⁰ 

• Population with a disability: 888,115 (2022 est.) 

IFES Resources: 

• Does IFES have a presence in Denmark: No  

 

1. https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/nyheder-analyser-publ/nyt/NytHtml?cid=40193

2. https://valg.im.dk/nyhedsarkiv/2022/okt/saa-mange-vaelgere-kan-stemme-til-folketingsvalget

3. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/denmark/#people-and-society 

4. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en 

5.  https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en 

6. https://dst.dk/valg/Valg1968094/other/Kandidatstatistik2022.pdf

7. https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=9&year=2022

8. https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/DNK

9. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en

10. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en