A guide to the political parties of Denmark

I often speak to internationals who share with me the challenges they have faced in trying to understand the goings on in Danish politics. And one of the clearest hurdles is the sheer number  of different political parties.

This is especially a challenge for people who are used to American or British politics where there are two main parties. However, many other European countries — who like Denmark — have multi-party systems rarely have as many parties as Denmark.

In the Danish Parliament, Folketinget, there are a whopping twelve different Danish parties represented (plus an additional two Greenlandic and two Faroese parties).

So, in this guide, I will take you through the twelve parties. I’ll describe their general ideology, their history, their function in Danish politics, and their current standing and leadership.

The bloc system

Denmark uses a bloc system. It isn’t a formal construct, but an informal one that’s incredibly helpful to understanding the general lay of the land.

The red bloc is the group of parties to the left of the political centre. This bloc is made up of (in order of size of representation in Folketinget): the Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet), the Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti), the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), and the Alternative (Alternativet).

The blue bloc is the group of parties to the right of the political centre. This bloc is made up of (also in order of size of representation in Folketinget): Venstre, the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti), Liberal Alliance, the Conservative People’s Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti), the Denmark Democrats (Danmarksdemokraterne), and the Citizens’ Party (Borgernes Parti).

The one party that is generally considered to operate outside of the bloc system is the Moderates (Moderaterne) who advocate for grand coalitions across the political spectrum.

However, despite a recent experiment with such a constellation from 2022 to 2026, the most common government constellations tend to be made up of parties exclusively from one of the two blocs.

The red bloc

We’ll start with the parties in the red bloc. This is the bloc currently in government. We’ll take the parties one-by-one, ordered by size in Folketinget.

The Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet)

The Social Democrats is a centre-left social democratic party. It is one of the two parties who generally tend to lead governments and hold the prime minister’s office (the other being Venstre in blue bloc) and is considered one of the ‘four old parties’.

It was founded in its first formation in 1871 as a part of the then-growing labour movement across large parts of Europe, including in Denmark. The party slowly grew in prominence in the following decades, becoming a truly significant force by the early years of the 20th century.

In the first two decades of the 1900s, the Social Democrats would on occasion serve as parliamentary support for Social Liberal (Radikale Venstre) governments. But in 1924, they began leading their first government under Thorvald Stauning.

Stauning played a key role in establishing the Danish welfare state through establishing a series of safety nets. Throughout the rest of the century, the party would lead several other governments too, including under prominent figures like Hans Hedtoft, Jens Otto Krag, Anker Jørgensen, and Poul Nyrup Rasmussen

Social Democratic-led governments would introduce universal healthcare and financial support for students, legalise abortion, join the NATO alliance and the European Economic Community (later the European Union).

The Social Democratic party is also responsible for the first female minister in a Danish government: Nina Bang who served as Minister of Education from 1924 to 1926. And of course, the country’s first female Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who served from 2011 to 2015, was also a Social Democrat.

Today, the party is led by Mette Frederiksen, who has led the party since 2015, and has served as Prime Minister from 2019 through to today. She is a pragmatic politician, once having been an economically left-wing counterweight to Thorning-Schmidt, before herself turning moderate and leading a moderate government in coalition with Venstre.

Frederiksen is also notable for having introduced very hard-line stances on immigration — both rhetorically and policy-wise. This to stay competitive with the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti) on immigration. However, it has also brought her into conflict with other social democratic leaders across Europe.

Today, the Social Democrats lead the government with coalition partners the Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti), the Moderates (Moderaterne), and the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre).

The Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti)

The Green Left is a left-wing democratic socialist party. It is one of the parties in the red bloc considered ‘regeringsdueligt’, effectively: fit to govern, and is therefore also one of the four parties in the current government.

It was founded in 1959 by Aksel Larsen, a prominent member of the Communist Party of Denmark (Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti). He had been excluded from his previous party due to his wanting to distance the party from the Soviet Communist Party and its actions in the Budapest Uprising.

The party would for decades be a small to medium-sized party in Folketinget, but was quick to earn influence through supporting Social Democratic-led governments. The first government it supported was already in 1966.

For many years, it was however not seen as mainstream enough to enter government coalitions. This changed during the leadership period of Villy Søvndal, who brought the party into government for the first time in 2011.

However, this experience was not a particularly positive one for the Green Left who saw a chaotic change of leadership, poor relations with the Social Liberals (who were also coalition partners), and an early exit in 2014.

Since then, the party has rebuilt under leader Pia Olsen Dyhr, who led it to a series of excellent election results, including earlier in 2026, when the party became the second largest in Folketinget and entered government.

It’s a party that emphasises a focus on the welfare system (especially in regards to school, health, and elder care), green environmental and climate policy, and liberal social views. Over the years, the party has also moved to fairly mainstream, centrist views on increasing defense spending, supporting the EU, and supporting NATO.

The Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten)

The Red-Green Alliance is a left-wing socialist party. It represents the most left-wing party in the mainstream Danish political sphere. This is not a ‘regeringsdueligt’ party, but one which the Social Democrats are still comfortable relying on for parliamentary support. 

It was founded in 1994 as a merger between four smaller left-wing political parties: the left Socialists (Venstresocialisterne), the Communist Party of Denmark, the Socialist Workers Party (Socialistisk Arbejderparti), and the Communist Workers Party (Kommunistisk Arbejderparti).

The party took seats at its first election and has since grown to a small-to-medium sized party. It served as parliamentary support for Poul Nyrup Rasmussen for a short period. It would later go on to support the governments of Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Mette Frederiksen.

Its party structure is unique in the significant power that lies with the executive board and the fact that the party does not have an official leader. Though the political spokesperson, currently Pelle Dragsted, spearheads and represents the party in debates and in the media.

It is a party that has been on a steady shift towards moderation since its inception. This has been especially clear in recent years where it’s dropped its more aggressive EU- and NATO-scepticism and cut ties with members supporting Islamist terrorist organisations.

The party supports a very strong welfare state, having profiled itself on advocating for free dental care for example. It is also very socially liberal and green on environmental and climate policies.

The Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre)

The Social Liberals are a centre-left socially liberal party. It is considered a ‘regeringsdueligt’ party, having participated in many governments, both of the right and the left. It has also led a small handful of governments during the twentieth century and is considered to be one of the ‘four old parties’.

It was founded in 1905 as a splinter from Venstre by antimilitarists. It would go on to lead a couple of governments under Carl Theodor Zahle, whose governments were notable for bringing the Social Democrats into negotiations and for conflicts with the King, who ended up firing Zahle, leading to a constitutional crisis.

After the crisis in 1920, the party did not take power again until a short stint in the late 1960s and early 1970s under Hilmar Baunsgaard, which was also the last time the party led a government. However, it’s been a constant participant in various coalition governments.

Throughout the post-WWII period, it was a centrist party who could often decide the balance of power. However, in the twenty-first century, the party has more or shifted fully to being a centre-left party and a member of the red bloc.

In 2020, the party was rocked by a #MeToo scandal around then-leader Morten Østergaard, who had to resign, throwing the party into a downward spiral which saw them closing in on the 2% threshold in the 2022 election. However, the party has stabilised in the years since under new leader Martin Lidegaard. Now the party is a coalition partner in the current government.

The Social Liberals have a more liberal economic policy, though still progressive in its views on taxation. It is also a very green and environmentalist party, a very pro-immigration party (arguably the most pro-immigration party), and a party which has made education one of its core pillars.

The Alternative (Alternativet)

The Alternative is a left-wing green party. It is not considered ‘regeringsdueligt’, and while it isn’t faced with a cordon sanitaire, it has rarely been relied on for parliamentary support due to being small and often not having the deciding votes. However, this government has taken them on as confidence-and-supply.

It was founded in 2013 by Uffe Elbæk, a former minister for the Social Liberals. In its first election in 2015, the party took 4.8% of the vote and has been represented in Folketinget ever since. In every election since 2015, it has never been all that far from the 2% threshold, meaning it’s been in constant threat of being voted out entirely. Therefore, it garnered a lot of interest when Elbæk decided to announce himself as prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 election.

He would later resign from the post in 2020, leading the party into its most significant crisis when his successor’s leadership style and bullying allegations led to four out of five of the parliamentary members defecting (three, including Elbæk, to found the Independent Green party). However, the party managed to integrate several other minor parties into it and win back support from Elbæk ahead of the 2022 election under new leader Franciska Rosenkilde.

The party is environmentalist and is in the forefront on climate protection policy. It is also very socially liberal and pro-immigration. On the economy, the party says it is not socialist, but economically progressive.

The blue bloc

Now, we turn to the parties to the right of the political centre. Again, we’ll take the parties one-by-one based on how many seats they have in Folketinget.

Venstre

Venstre is a centre-right liberal-conservative party. It has for the majority of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries been the natural party of government on the right (with the exemption of a stint in the 1980s and 1990s). It has therefore led many governments and been a very important force in Danish politics.

An early version of the party was founded in 1870 by various smaller groups of liberals to take on the Right Party (Højre), a precursor to the Conservative People’s Party. The intention was to work for more representation for agrarian Denmark at a time when capitalists in cities were the most powerful group. The liberals also wanted to ensure more powers for Folketinget.

During the first four decades of its existence, it faced internal rifts and conflicts that led to several splinters and reunifications (including the Social Liberals leaving in 1905). In 1910, two smaller splinter parties returned to Venstre, founding the party as we know it today. In its early years, the party was instrumental in introducing parliamentary democracy as we know it today in Denmark: where the government is answerable to Folketinget.

The early iteration of the party led its first government in 1901 under Johan Henrik Deuntzer and the newer version of the party led its first government in 1910 under Klaus Berntsen. Other prominent prime ministers for Venstre include Niels Neergaard, Erik Eriksen, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and of course most significantly Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Under Fogh Rasmussen, Venstre, as one of the first governing parties in Europe, began looking towards the national conservative movement for support; specifically the Danish People’s Party. This led to the defining hard-line policies on immigration that Denmark adopted in the noughties that were internationally criticised at the time, but are now being adopted across the Western world.

Since Fogh Rasmussen, the party has had significant internal turmoil. In 2022, two high-profile former Venstre figures founded new parties, bringing with them Venstre voters. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who had led Venstre and been Prime Minister, founded the Moderates. Inger Støjberg, who had been deputy leader of Venstre and its high-profile immigration minister, founded the Denmark Democrats.

Venstre’s participation in the centrist SVM-government under the Social Democrats from 2022 to 2026 has also hurt its support amongst more right-wing voters. In 2026, the party had its worst-ever election and polling has continued to drop since due to internal disagreements on agriculture policy.

The party is economically liberal: favouring lower taxes, and generally less government spending. However, it does not advocate for repealing the welfare state. The party has tried to take on a greener profile in recent years, but its relationship with the agricultural industry has challenged this. It is socially conservative: especially on immigration where its mantra is ‘strict, but fair’.

The Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti)

The Danish People’s Party is a right-wing national-conservative and populist party. For two decades it was the dominant force on the Danish right on immigration, and while it has never formally entered a government, it has repeatedly shaped policy as a support party.

It was founded in 1995 by Pia Kjærsgaard and a small group of MPs who broke with the Progress Party (Fremskridtspartiet) over leadership and direction. The new party was represented in Folketinget from the day it was founded. Under Kjærsgaard it grew steadily, and from 2001 to 2011 it supplied the parliamentary majority for the Venstre–Conservative governments of Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Lars Løkke Rasmussen. In return it secured the series of tight immigration and integration laws that defined Danish politics in that period. It played the same support role for Løkke Rasmussen’s government from 2016 to 2019.

The party peaked at the 2015 election with more than a fifth of the vote. It then declined sharply in 2019 and collapsed further in 2022, reduced to a handful of seats as voters drifted to the Denmark Democrats and as the Social Democrats adopted much of its immigration line. Kristian Thulesen Dahl, who had succeeded Kjærsgaard in 2012 and steered a somewhat more moderate course, stepped down; Morten Messerschmidt took over in January 2022.

Under Messerschmidt the party has returned to a harder rhetorical line on immigration, Islam, and national sovereignty, while keeping its traditional emphasis on the elderly, law and order, and the welfare state for Danish citizens. It remains Eurosceptic. At the 2026 election it recovered strongly, taking 9.1 percent and 16 seats, and Messerschmidt has since said the party is ready to enter government for the first time. It is still not generally treated as a natural governing party by the rest of the blue bloc, but it is no longer a marginal one.

Liberal Alliance

Liberal Alliance is a right-wing classical-liberal party, the most economically liberal of the parties usually counted as ‘regeringsduelige’. It sits firmly in the blue bloc and has governed once.

It began in 2007 as the New Alliance (Ny Alliance), founded by the former Social Liberal Naser Khader, the former Conservative Gitte Seeberg, and others, with the explicit aim of reducing the Danish People’s Party’s influence. It was renamed Liberal Alliance in 2008 and, after Khader’s departure, came under the leadership of Anders Samuelsen. 

The party supported the Venstre government after 2015 and then entered the three-party coalition with Venstre and the Conservatives in 2016, with Samuelsen as foreign minister. That government delivered tax cuts, but never achieved its goal of removing the top tax rate. It also angered many people in its own ranks when it supported the Burqa ban. In the 2019 election it almost fell under the threshold and only took four MPs.

Alex Vanopslagh took over as leader in 2019. Under him the party has rebuilt around a clear low-tax, pro-work message, socially liberal positions, and a heavy presence on social media that has drawn younger voters. It more than tripled its vote in 2022 and advanced again in 2026. It has not been in government since 2019, but it is treated as a natural blue-bloc coalition partner.

The party wants large tax cuts, a smaller public sector, and more room for the private sector in Denmark. It is relatively green in a market-oriented way, liberal on most social questions, and pragmatic but often sceptical on further EU integration. However, in recent years, it has slowly started moving toward the Danish People’s Party on views on immigration.

The Conservative People’s Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti)

The Conservative People’s Party is a centre-right liberal-conservative party. It is one of the four old parties, has a long record in government, and remains one of the strongest parties in local politics even when its national results are more modest.

It was founded in 1916, succeeding the old Right Party (Højre). Through the middle of the twentieth century it was the main party of the urban capitalist class and of business, usually in opposition to Social Democratic dominance. Its only period as the leading party of government came under Poul Schlüter, prime minister from 1982 to 1993, in a series of centre-right coalitions. After that it returned to its more familiar role as junior partner to Venstre: in government with Venstre (and support from the Danish People’s Party) from 2001 to 2011, and again with Venstre and Liberal Alliance from 2016 to 2019.

The party has had a run of short leaderships since Schlüter. Søren Pape Poulsen stabilised it after taking over in 2014 and led a resurgence going into the 2022 election when he declared himself a prime ministerial candidate. However, a long series of personal scandals (especially about his husband) tanked his chances. He died suddenly in 2024. Mona Juul has led the party since then and took it to a gain at the 2026 election. It is regarded as ‘regeringsdueligt‘ and as a core blue-bloc party.

Economically it favours lower taxes, sound public finances, and the protection of private property, without seeking to dismantle the welfare state. It has tried to brand itself as green-conservative. It is pro-NATO, broadly pro-EU, and socially conservative relative to the parties to its left, including on immigration, though less hard-line than the Danish People’s Party or the Denmark Democrats.

The Denmark Democrats (Danmarksdemokraterne)

The Denmark Democrats are a right-wing agrarian- and rural-interest party. It is not considered ‘regeringsdueligt’, though it is not unthinkable that it could get to a place where it is.

It was founded in 2022 by Inger Støjberg, a former immigration minister and deputy leader for Venstre, who had profiled herself on hard-line immigration policy. So hardline indeed that as minister she breached the European Convention of Human Rights, for which she was later impeached and which earned her a jail sentence.

 Upon launch, the party took a sizable portion of voters from Venstre and the Danish People’s Party (including many of their MPs too) and it received a fairly strong first election taking 8.1% of the vote.

However, with the resurgence of the Danish People’s Party and a growing anger at the Danish agriculture industry, it saw a bit of a dip in support and only took 5.8% of the vote in 2026. Though, Venstre’s current troubles may be helping Støjberg’s project stay afloat.

The party is very much still tied to Støjberg’s profile and likeness. Aside from that, it favours farmers’ and breeders’ interests, therefore often coming into conflict with climate and environmental issues. It is also hard-line on immigration (though not to the same degree as the Danish People’s Party) and economically liberal. It is also an internationalist party, in a way other national conservative parties aren’t.

The Citizens’ Party (Borgernes Parti)

The Citizens’ Party is a populist right-wing national conservative party. It is considered the most right-wing party elected to Folketinget, but due to an effective collapse in the party infrastructure, parliamentary group, and popular support, it is also often excluded from Danish media coverage.

The party was founded in 2024 by Lars Boje Mathiesen, who was an MP at the time, after having been elected for the now-almost entirely defunct New Right Party. He led that other party for a very short stint (roughly a month) before internal conflict around the leader’s salary led to the board toppling him.

The Citizens’ Party only just managed to clear the 2% threshold at the 2026 election, taking four seats. However, three of the four MPs now sit as independents: one after being thrown out for a previous financial scandal with the other two leaving due to Mathiesen’s leadership style. 

The party supports remigration, an element of ethno-nationalism, scepticism of globalism (including the EU, NATO, and the UN), and economic liberalism (borderline libertarianism).

Outside the blocs

Now, let’s turn to the one party outside the bloc systems:

The Moderates (Moderaterne)

The Moderates are a centrist liberal party. They are the only party in Folketinget that is generally treated as standing outside the red and blue blocs, and their explicit project is cross-bloc cooperation.

The party was launched in 2022 by Lars Løkke Rasmussen after he left Venstre, the party he had led and from which he had served as prime minister (2009–2011 and 2015–2019). It surged during the 2022 campaign and finished as the third-largest party. Although the red bloc had a majority on its own, Rasmussen used the result to broker the SVM government of Social Democrats, Venstre, and the Moderates, the first formal grand coalition of its kind in recent decades. He has served as foreign minister throughout.

The period was not necessarily a good one for the party due to a long series of scandals around its new, untested, and poorly vetted parliamentary group. For months it looked as if the party would not clear the threshold. However Rasmussen’s work as foreign minister during the Greenland crisis bolstered their polling shortly before the 2026 election.

That experiment ended with the 2026 election. Venstre ruled out another government under Frederiksen; the Moderates lost a little ground but kept a pivotal number of seats. After negotiations they entered the new centre-left coalition with the Social Democrats, the Green Left, and the Social Liberals, again with Rasmussen as foreign minister. The party remains closely identified with him. He has said he expects to contest at least one more election, while also hiring organisational leadership intended to make the party less dependent on its founder.

The Moderates describe themselves as pragmatic rather than ideological: pro-welfare but open to reform, pro-business, pro-EU and pro-NATO, and willing to work with either side of the Folketing if the arithmetic and the programme allow it. Their influence has so far come less from a distinct policy brand than from Rasmussen’s ability to sit between the blocs.