General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 1 November 2022 – except in the Faroe Islands, where they were held on 31 October, for 1 November was a national day of mourning for victims at sea. Of the 179 members of the Folketing, 175 were elected in Denmark proper, two in the Faroes and two in Greenland. The elections were called on 5 October following an ultimatum to the government by the Social Liberals (which had been providing external support) due to the outcome of a report on the 2020 Danish mink cull by the Mink Commission, which was critical of the government. Voter turnout was 84% in Denmark, 48% in Greenland, and 71% in the Faroes, with a combined turnout of 84% for the realm as a whole.

Initially it appeared that no bloc would gain a majority; however, left-leaning parties retained their majority due to results in the Faroe Islands and Greenland, but with the majority reduced to a single seat. The governing Social Democrats achieved their best result in 20 years, with 28% of the vote, while the Social Liberals experienced one of their worst ever results. Leading opposition party Venstre also suffered major losses in the elections, losing more than 40% of its seats. Two new parties standing in the elections, the Moderates and the Denmark Democrats, won 16 and 14 seats respectively, making them the third- and fifth-largest parties.

The blue bloc and the Moderates together received more votes than the red bloc, but the red bloc won a majority of seats due to the two Greenlandic seats and the Social Democrats winning one more constituency seat than it was entitled to seats overall. Following the elections, Frederiksen was appointed informateur and, despite the left bloc holding a majority of seats, opted to form a centrist government with Venstre and other parties from the blue bloc, which had also been her pledge during the campaign. After negotiations, a coalition government composed of the Social Democrats, Venstre and the Moderates was formed, the first time since 1977 where both main parties were part of a coalition government.

Background The 2019 Danish general election on 5 June ended with a 91-seat win for the Social Democrats and Mette Frederiksen and their supporting parties. Twenty-two days later, a minority government was formed by the Social Democrats. The government was supported by the other parties in the red bloc (the Social Liberals, the Green Left, and the Red–Green Alliance). Frederiksen, the leader of the Social Democrats, became Prime Minister of Denmark.

On 2 July 2022 Sofie Carsten Nielsen, leader of the Social Liberals, one of supporting parties of the government, encouraged Frederiksen to set an election date before 4 October after the report of the Mink Commission was published, criticising the government's handling of the Cluster 5 outbreak in November 2020. Later the same day, Nielsen announced that she was ready to put forward a motion of no confidence if the prime minister refused to call early elections.

On 5 October, Frederiksen announced that general elections were to be held on 1 November, the first to be held on a Tuesday since the 2007 Danish general election.

Electoral system The 179 members of the Folketing are elected in Denmark (175), the Faroe Islands (2) and Greenland (2). The 175 seats in Denmark include 135 seats elected in ten multi-member constituencies of Denmark by proportional representation, using the d'Hondt method (kredsmandater), and 40 leveling seats, allocated to parties in order to address any imbalance in the distribution of the constituency seats (tillægsmandater). The main threshold for levelling seats is 2%.

According to the Constitution of Denmark, the election had to be held no later than 4 June 2023, as the last election was held on 5 June 2019. The incumbent prime minister is able to call the election at any date, provided that date is no later than four years from the previous election, and this is often cited as a tactical advantage to the sitting government, as it can call an early election when opinion polls are favourable. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the previous prime minister from 2015 to 2019, announced on 7 May 2019 that elections would be held on 5 June; the latest date for that election was 17 June.

In order for a new party to be eligible to run in the election it must obtain declarations of support (vælgererklæringer) from a number of electors at least equal to 1/175th of the total valid votes cast at the previous elections. For the 2022 election, this figure was equal to 20,182 declarations of support. Four new parties (Moderates, Denmark Democrats, Independent Greens and Vegan Party managed to raise this amount thus becoming eligible for the election although the Vegan Party choose not to use its eligibility but instead merge with the Alternatives. A minimum of 1,112 votes were not counted due to them not being delivered in time. These did not contribute to the voter turnout and were in all likelihood irrelevant to the resultant according to political scientist Kasper Møller Hansen.

Despite the blue bloc and the Moderates combined gaining 68,209 more votes than the combined red bloc, the red bloc still managed to secure a slight majority of 90 seats. Apart from three out of four North Atlantic seats going to red parties, red bloc's success was due to a never previously used section in the election law (section 77, subsection 3) that secured the Social Democrats an additional seat that would otherwise have been awarded to Venstre.

ConstituencySeatsBornholm2Copenhagen17East Jutland18Faroe Islands2Funen12Greater Copenhagen11Greenland2North Jutland15North Zealand10South Jutland17West Jutland13Zealand20

Voter eligibility One has the right to vote if one is 18 years old on election day, is a Danish citizen, lives within the Realm (Denmark proper, Greenland and the Faroe Islands) and are not disempowered (umyndiggjort). Disempowerment is for instance mental disabilities. All eligible voters are also eligible to run for election. After the election, all newly elected members of the Folketing must sign a declaration stating that they intend to comply with the Constitution, while the new Folketing must approve the election and the eligibility of the individual members. This is done in the Committee for Electoral Trials (Udvalget til Valgs Prøvelse). After the 2022 election all elected members of the Folketing were approved.

Issues In her speech announcing the election, Frederiksen declared the election to be a security election (Danish: tryghedsvalg), citing issues such as the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, economic anxiety, and issues in the health system. In the same speech, Frederiksen also declared her intentions to work towards a centrist government with parties from both blocs rather than continue the incumbent one-party minority government.

Two of the parties supporting the Frederiksen Cabinet, the Red–Green Alliance and the Green Left, both came out in opposition to a centrist government, citing concerns of undue conservative influence. The blue bloc, including Liberal Alliance, the Conservative People's Party, Venstre, the Denmark Democrats, New Right, and the Danish People's Party, also denied the possibility of a government with the Social Democrats. The Social Liberals and especially the Moderates, who have been campaigning for a centrist government since their inception, supported Frederiksen's declaration.

Political parties The table below lists parties represented in the Folketing.

Denmark Name Ideologies Leader 2019 result Seats atdissolution Votes (%) Seats A Social Democrats Social democracy Mette Frederiksen 25.9% V Venstre Conservative liberalismAgrarianism (Nordic) Jakob Ellemann-Jensen 23.4% O Danish People's Party Danish nationalismNational conservatismAnti-immigration Morten Messerschmidt 8.7% B Social Liberals Social liberalism Sofie Carsten Nielsen 8.6% F Green Left Green politicsPopular socialism Pia Olsen Dyhr 7.7% Ø Red–Green Alliance Eco-socialismAnti-capitalism Collective leadership 6.9% C Conservative People's Party Green conservatismLiberal conservatism Søren Pape Poulsen 6.6% Å The Alternative Green politicsPro-Europeanism Franciska Rosenkilde 3.0% D New Right National conservatismEconomic liberalismAnti-immigration Pernille Vermund 2.4% I Liberal Alliance Right-libertarianismClassical liberalism Alex Vanopslagh 2.3% Æ Denmark Democrats Right-wing populismAnti-immigration Inger Støjberg Q Independent Greens Green politicsAnti-racismMinority rights Sikandar Siddique K Christian Democrats Christian democracySocial conservatism Marianne Karlsmose 1.8% M Moderates LiberalismCentrism Lars Løkke Rasmussen Ind. Independent 0.1%

Faroe Islands Name Ideologies Leader 2019 result Seats atdissolution Votes (%) Seats JF Social Democratic Party Social democracy Aksel V. Johannesen 24.3% SP Union Party Conservative liberalism Bárður á Steig Nielsen 23.5%

Greenland Name Ideologies Leader 2019 result Seats atdissolution Votes (%) Seats IA Community of the People Democratic socialism Múte Bourup Egede 38.3% SIU Forward Social democracy Erik Jensen 38.0%

Debates

2022 Danish general election debates Date Time OrganizersVenue ABCDFIKMOQVÆØÅRefs 21:00 DR DR ByenPFrederiksenNPPape NNNNNNNPEllemannNNN 21 Sep 19:55 TV 2 CopenhagenSBruusPNielsen PPape PVermundPDyhrPVanopslaghNNNNPEllemannNPVilladsenN 27 Sep 16:00 DI Royal ArenaNPNielsenNNNNNPLøkkeNNNPStøjbergNN 29 Sep 10:00 ÆS OdensePFrederiksenPNielsen PPape PVermundPDyhrPVanopslaghNPLøkkePMesserschmidtN PEllemannSSkaarupPVilladsenN 4 Oct 20:30 DR2 DR ByenSWammenPNielsen PPape PVermundPDyhrPVanopslaghPKarlsmosePLøkkePMesserschmidtPSiddique PEllemannPStøjbergPVilladsenPRosenkilde 5 Oct 20:00 DR and TV 2 ChristiansborgPFrederiksenPNielsen PPape PVermundPDyhrPVanopslaghPKarlsmosePLøkkePMesserschmidtPSiddique PEllemannPStøjbergPVilladsenPRosenkilde 9 Oct 20:00 TV 2 Storms Pakhus, OdensePFrederiksenNPPape NNNNNNNPEllemannNNN 12 Oct 15:00 DI AAK, AarhusSWammenPNielsenPPape PVermundPDyhrNNPLøkkeNNPEllemannPStøjbergNN 13 Oct 16:00 TV 2 Rybners Gymnasium, EsbjergSTesfayePNielsenPPape PVermundPDyhrPVanopslaghPKarlsmosePLøkkePMesserschmidtPSiddiquePEllemannPStøjbergPVilladsenPRosenkilde 16 Oct 21:00 DR Koncerthuset, CopenhagenPFrederiksenNPPape NNNNNNNPEllemannNNN 27 Oct 20:00 TV 2 Nordkraft, AalborgSTesfayePNielsenPPape NNPVanopslaghNNNPSiddiquePEllemannPStøjbergPVilladsenN 30 Oct 21:00 DR Koncerthuset, CopenhagenPFrederiksenPNielsenPPape PVermundPDyhrPVanopslaghPKarlsmosePLøkkePMesserschmidtPSiddiquePEllemannPStøjbergPVilladsenPRosenkilde 31 Oct 20:00 TV 2 Christiansborg, CopenhagenPFrederiksenPNielsenPPape PVermundPDyhrPVanopslaghPKarlsmosePLøkkePMesserschmidtPSiddiquePEllemannPStøjbergPVilladsenPRosenkilde

Opinion polls

Exit polls PartyPoll by Epinion%+/–Seats+/– Social Democrats23.1-4.642–6 Venstre13.5–9.924–19 Moderates9.3New17New Green Left9.6+1.917+3 Liberal Alliance9.0+6.716+12 Denmark Democrats6.9New12New Red–Green Alliance6.2–0.711–2 Conservatives5.5–1.110–2 Social Liberals4.7–3.98–8 The Alternative3.9+0.97+2 New Right3.8+1.47+3 Danish People's Party2.5–6.24–12 Independent Greens1.3New0New Christian Democrats0.4–1.300

Voters demographics

DivisionABCDFIKMOQVÆØÅ Red Blue None%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%Males25.53.65.25.25.810.80.49.42.91.013.210.24.12.533.157.39.4Females29.54.05.92.110.94.90.69.22.40.813.45.96.34.155.735.29.2Young (18–34)14.16.76.25.49.115.00.410.51.02.010.53.68.15.845.843.210.5

Results

Seats won by type

Maps

Aftermath and government formation