Greenland Election: Demokraatit Emerges as the Island’s Largest Political Party

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The general election results for Greenland's parliament, Inatsisartut, were announced the night after election day, Tuesday March 11.

In total, six parties competed for the Greenlander's vote to fill the parliament's 31 seats.

The oppositional party Demokraatit (social liberal) won the election by 29,9 percent of the votes – an increase of over 20 percent since the last election in 2021. The party gained 10 seats.

"We did not expect the election to have this outcome. We are very happy. Although the election has concluded, the politics start now," said Jens Frederik Nielsen, the Demokraatit party leader, to KNR. 

"Greenland needs us to stand united at a time of great outside interest. There is a need for unity, so we will negotiate with everyone," he added.

With a view to the great international interest, especially from Donald Trump's USA, Nielsen stated the following on Facebook on election day: "This is our country. Our choice. Our freedom."

Like several other Greenlandic political leaders, he has also made it very clear that Greenlanders want to be Greenlanders – not Americans or Danes.

Favored

The election results also show that Nielsen is Greenland's most popular politician. He received the highest number of personal votes among all candidates: 4850 (16,9 percent).

Nielsen is 33 years old and has, since the Inatsisartut election in 2021, been one of Demokratiit's three members of parliament. His background also includes the position as the Greenlandic Naalakkersuisoq (minister) of Labour and Mineral Resources (2020-2021).

In comparison, Múte B. Egede (IA), the outgoing Prime Minister of the Greenlandic government Naalakkersuisut, received 3276 personal votes (11,4 percent).

The other parties

The position as Greenland's second largest party was won by the oppositional party Naleraq (center-populist), which also yielded strong results with its 21,4 percent of the vote (an increase of 12,5 percent). This provides eight seats in parliament.

Greenland's current government parties and traditional power parties – Inuit Ataqatigiit (left-wing socialist) og Siumut (social democratic) – came in at third and fourth place, respectively, after significant declines:

• IA received 21,4 percent of the votes (a decrease of 15,3 percent) and seven seats.
• S received 14,7 percent of the votes (a decrease of 14,7 percent) and four seats.

"Siumut and IA have governed for 40 to 50 years, and the two parties have been responsible for constructing the self-government. The promise was that it would be less Danish and more Greenlandic and that welfare would be delivered. But now, the Greenlanders want to try something different," comments Ulrik Pram Gad, Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute of International Studies, to DR.

In fifth place, we find the party Atassut (liberal-conservative) with 7,3 percent of the votes (a slight increase of 0,4 percent), providing two seats.

Finally, the newcomer party, Qulleq, received 11,1 percent of the votes, yielding no seats.

Overview – election results

The matter of independence

Five of the parties ran for election with the aim of independence for Greenland. The exception is Atassut, which wants to maintain a closer relationship with Denmark within the realm (which also includes the Faroe Islands). 

At the same time, the pro-independence parties differ in their views on how independence should be shaped, as well as on how quickly it should be achieved and how this process should proceed (particularly vis-à-vis Copenhagen).

Simply put, Demokraatit, Inuit Ataqatigiit and Siumut have the common denominator that they want to strengthen Greenlandic self-governmen within the realm in the short term, with a clear aim of independence in the longer term.

Although the three parties formulate themselves somewhat differently regarding the desired end result and specify their preferred method of action to varying degrees, they have a majority (21 seats) for a gradual process.

On the other side, Naleraq (eight seats) and Quelleq (no seats) are advocates for rapid (and 'harder') achievement of independence.

The nuances between these pro-parties could perhaps be seen along a continuum between 'reformism' and 'revolution.'

Key figures

Government formation

Greenland is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system. 

The party (or a coalition of parties) with the greatest or most solid representation in the parliament forms the government, Naalakkersuisut. In order to come to power, the government must also win a vote of confidence (an investiture vote) in parliament. This is called positive parliamentarism.

The outgoing Naalakkersuisut, as mentioned, comprises a coalition of the parties IA and Siumut. They have governed together since 2022 with a total of 22/21 mandates and have five ministers each.

Going forward, a key question is whether the election winner, Demokraatit, will A) seek to negotiate broad support (ref. investiture vote) for a one-party government (based on its 10 out of a total of 31 seats) or B) adopt a far more inclusive line, which seems more likely.

With the latter approach, the party will seek to negotiate a joint platform and gain parliamentary support for a multi-party government with a better basis for governance. This could be a government based on a stronger minority or a majority in Inatsisartut.