Danish general election, 2011

Danish general election, 2011

← 2007 15 September 2011 2015 →
All 179 seats to the Folketing 90 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	87.2%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen Helle Thorning-Schmidt Pia Kjærsgaard Party Venstre Social Democrats Danish People's Last election 46 seats, 26.2% 45 seats, 25.5% 25 seats, 13.9% Seats won 47 44 22 Seat change 1 1 3 Popular vote 947,725 879,615 436,726 Percentage 26.7% 24.9% 12.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Margrethe Vestager Villy Søvndal Collective leadership Party Social Liberals Socialist People's Red-Green Last election 9 seats, 5.1% 23 seats, 13.0% 4 seats, 2.2% Seats won 17 16 12 Seat change 8 7 8 Popular vote 336,698 326,192 236,860 Percentage 9.5% 9.2% 6.7%   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Anders Samuelsen Lars Barfoed Party Liberal Alliance Conservative People's Last election 5 seats, 2.8% 18 seats, 10.4% Seats won 9 8 Seat change 4 10 Popular vote 176,585 175,047 Percentage 5.0% 4.9%
Prime Minister before election Lars Løkke Rasmussen Venstre Elected Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt Social Democrats

Lars Løkke Rasmussen
Venstre

Helle Thorning-Schmidt
Social Democrats

General elections were held in Denmark on 15 September 2011 to elect the 179 members of the Folketing. Of those 179, 175 members were elected in Denmark, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland.

The incumbent centre-right coalition led by Venstre lost power to a centre-left coalition led by the Social Democrats making Helle Thorning-Schmidt the country's first female Prime Minister. The Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party became part of the three-party government. The new parliament convened on 4 October, the first Tuesday of the month.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who had been re-elected Prime Minister following the 2007 parliamentary election, resigned on 5 April 2009 to become the Secretary General of NATO in August. Polls indicated a preference for early elections over simply having Finance Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen take over as PM; the Social Democrats' Helle Thorning-Schmidt was also suggested as the preferred candidate for PM. However, Pia Kjærsgaard, the leader of the Danish People's Party, had reiterated the DPP's continued support for the government, previously avoiding a new election and making Rasmussen the PM within the existing parliament. However, when Rasmussen resigned that support became moot.

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