Danish Elections Called

[Last Conformist]

I prefer the Swedish Vänstern. You can trust them to be baby-eating commies.

[Gangerolf]

I think I saw one of their youth leaders (blonde chick with big teeth) on TV defending the statement that "Cuba is a democracy" or something similar.

[Last Conformist]

That would be chairperson Tove Fraurud, I suspect. It's entirely in character.

[Winston]

Aargh.

Thread has been taken over by highlanders.

[Last Conformist]

You can have it back for all I'm concerned.

It's just that we've got proper lefties here, not your fake version.

[Winston]

Proper lefties. Hmm, it would seem we've come past that antiquated stage.

But alas, we still have isolated pockets where some people haven't yet realised it's time to move on, as you will see from the below graphic.

It shows the election results from 2001 by constituencies, the colour being determined by who got the majority of votes. Opposition = red, government + supporters = blue.

Should be interesting to see the updated version in a week's time.

[Stefu]

Would one be correct in assuming that the red areas contain quite a few major cities?

[Winston]

One would, in 4 of the 6 instances, yes.

Damn hippies, can't even vote properly.

[Winston]

Danish election campaign goes global.

Israel finds a defender in Denmark

Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST

Since Denmark has only a tiny Jewish community, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen can't be accused of pandering to the Jewish vote when he launched a spirited defense of Israel on the campaign stump earlier this week.

During an appearance at the University of Aarhus, Rasmussen was challenged over his support for the US and asked why Iraq was attacked for violating UN Security Council resolutions while Israel was able to do so with impunity.

Rasmussen, whose country began a two-year rotating stint on the Security Council on January 1, said that whereas Israel was not completely implementing all the Security Council resolutions, "it is not run by a dictator without a conscience, and that is an essential difference."

"Moreover," he said, "Israel is surrounded by enemies that want to throw it into the sea, and we should recognize that it has a special history. Israel must use somewhat tough measures to defend itself."

Rasmussen's comments were applauded in Jerusalem.

"Over the last few months we have seen signs of improvement in our relationship with Europe," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev. "It is good to see that of late we are seeing more positive statements from European leaders showing greater concern for Israel's unique situation."

Rasmussen, head of a center-right coalition in Denmark that is pro-American, faces re-election on February 8, with polls showing he is comfortably leading the race.

Denmark has some 500 troops in Iraq.

Israeli diplomatic sources said they were not surprised by Rasmussen's comment. "This type of comment is not extraordinary for him," one official said. "He is one of our more supportive prime ministers today in Europe."

This may be one of several reasons why the not inconsiderable Muslim community in Denmark is mobilizing to unseat him.

On Friday the AFP news agency reported that Rasmussen urged Muslim clerics to "stay out of politics" as a group of imams prepared to ask followers to vote for the opposition.

Twenty-five imams living in Denmark are expected to meet Wednesday to develop a strategy to help promote the opposing parties.

There are an estimated 170,000 Muslims in Denmark out of a population of 5.4 million, making Islam the country's second largest religion. There are an estimated 6,500 Jews in Denmark.

Full context of Anders Fogh Rasmussen's remarks (from Berlingske Tidende, translated by me) :

"I agree that Israel isn't completely implementing all UN Security Council resolutions. But Israel is not run by a ruthless dictator. That is an essential difference. And Israel is surrounded by enemies who want to throw them into the sea. We have to recognize that it has a special history. Israel has to defend itself somewhat firmly.", Anders Fogh Rasmussen said during an election campaign meeting at the University of Aarhus on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister also stressed that the situation in Israel is not one of "black and white", and that he understands the Palestinians' wish to return to the lands they have fled since the state of Israel was founded in 1948. "It is an immensely complicated problem, for which there needs to be a 2-state solution, and naturally the Israelis will have to contribute to this," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

---

The opposition of course is now in a virtual uproar over this, OMGOMG, he had the nerve to bring a nuanced view into the Middle East debate, OMG. We believe the right course of action on this is to go absolutely ballistic. Not that it will achieve anything, but we're doing it anyway.

[Winston]

So, with 4 days left before the election, the opposition will have to hope for something on the scale of half a dozen asteroids colliding straight into PM Fogh Rasmussen if the outcome is to change in their favour. And even then, I highly doubt it.

Here's an overview of all the opinion polls conducted since the election was called, in terms of predicted seats in Parliament for each of the two blocks.

Blue is the current government and its supporters, red the opposition.

In this graphic, as in all polls, the total is 175 seats (excluding the 4 North Atlantic seats) - the actual number of seats in Parliament being 179.

So 90 seats is required for a majority, while in this graphic, the majority is at 88.

For comparison, in the 2001 election, the government block got 98 seats, the opposition 77.

[Winston]

Hmm. So this may turn out to be more of a close race between the two blocks than I would've liked - and contrary to what every single poll and the general impressions throughout the campaign have suggested.

It seems the opposition have picked up some momentum in the last days of the campaign; while there's been no apparent determining cause for this, the latest polls do suggest that they're gaining somewhat on the government block. Last poll in Jyllands-Posten yesterday among 1895 voters (double the regular number of respondents) gave 92 seats in support of the government, 83 for the opposition. And in the final debate yesterday, PM Fogh Rasmussen deemed it necessary to use his final remarks to once again emphasize the importance of not taking anything for granted, and urging people to use their vote to secure the current majority behind his cabinet.

I still feel that the government side will retain its majority, but it may end up being dependant on two backing parties instead of just one. And there is the very real possibility that the smaller of the backers won't make it past the 2% barrier.

I must admit the unwawering confidence I felt in the opening days of the campaign has diminished somewhat these last few days, but hopefully my concerns will be proven wrong tomorrow night...

[Gangerolf]

May the best Rasmussen win

[Last Conformist]

But Israel is not run by a ruthless dictator. That is an essential difference.

That's a stupid argument. It's saying that because they Israelis aren't evil, it's OK if they do evil.

[Stefu]

Well, it's always applied to Americans, hasn't it?

[Winston]

And...

It's on!

Happy Election Day