Denmark
The story
Denmark's party system has always been the Nordics' most fragmented, with frequent splits and anti-establishment parties represented since the 1970s. On the left, the Danish Communist Party (DKP, founded 1919) briefly joined government in 1945 and opposed NATO membership, but split over loyalty to Moscow; in 1989 it merged into the Red-Green Alliance (EL), a radical left party that still believes in revolution and has supported, but never joined, centre-left governments.
1972–1995 · The Progress Party
The Progress Party (FRP), founded in 1972 by Mogens Glistrup, was one of Europe's earliest right-wing populist parties — coming second in the 1973 "earthquake" election as a tax-protest movement before adding anti-immigration politics in the 1980s, when Glistrup called for Denmark to become a 'Mohammedan-free zone'. Never in government, it long propped up centre-right coalitions from outside. Internal battles between pragmatists and hardliners led its pragmatic wing to break away in 1995 and found the Danish People's Party (DF).
1995–2026 · The Danish People's Party's long run
DF, sharply focused on immigration from the start, was initially dismissed by the establishment — a Social Democratic PM said in 1999 that "no matter how hard they try, they will never be respectable." Two years later it began a decade as a parliamentary support party for the centre-right, driving Denmark toward some of Europe's strictest migration policy while carefully maintaining an outsider image. Under Kristian Thulesen Dahl it peaked at 21 percent in 2015, then collapsed as voters and MPs defected to newer radical-right parties, nearly losing its seats altogether in 2022. Under Morten Messerschmidt it recovered, winning 9.1% and 16 seats in 2026, and remains in opposition to Mette Frederiksen's centre-left government.
2015–2026 · New Right and the Denmark Democrats
The New Right, founded in 2015 by Pernille Vermund, sat to DF's right on both immigration and economics before Vermund left it for the centre-right Liberal Alliance in 2024, arguing it should be dissolved; it did not contest the 2026 election. More consequential was former immigration minister Inger Støjberg's 2022 Denmark Democrats (DD), founded after she served a 60-day sentence following her impeachment for unlawfully separating asylum-seeking couples — an even tougher line on immigration combined with a populist appeal to rural Denmark, sharpened by anger over the government's pandemic-era mink cull. DD won eight percent in its first election. The party clearly positioned itself within the centre-right bloc from its foundation. In the 2026 parliamentary election, however, its support declined to 5.8 per cent and ten seats. While remaining an important force on the nationalist right, it was overtaken decisively by the revived Danish People’s Party.
EP elections
The left-wing People's Movement Against the EU held a seat from 1979 until losing it in 2019 to the Red-Green Alliance's first-ever EP run. DF entered the EP in 1999, moving from the UEN group to ECR (2009–19) — a 2015 EU-funding misuse scandal involving future leader Morten Messerschmidt cost it seats, and it now holds just one.
DF
Danish People's Party
- Economics Centre
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Hard euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Low
DD
Denmark Democrats
- Economics Right
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Low
EL
Red-Green Alliance
- Economics Left
- Social issues Progressive
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Low