Denmark goes to the polls on Thursday in a general election which opinion polls suggest is on a knife edge. The centre-left coalition of PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and the centre-right opposition led by ex-PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen, appear to be neck and neck. But the pollsters have only canvassed the Danish mainland – and voters in Greenland and the Faroe Islands may decide the vote. Minor issues like a Faroes fishing dispute could influence the result. The islands’ fishing community is still angry at Ms Thorning-Schmidt for barring its boats from Danish ports in a 2013 dispute over alleged overfishing.
But in reality it is the economy, rather than mackerel quotas, that tends to swing elections, and Ms Thorning-Schmidt’s Social Democrat party has staged a remarkable comeback in recent weeks as Danish finances improve.
Welfare and immigration are exercising Danish voters even more than the economy, with anger at perceived benefit tourism leading the traditionally pro-immigration Social Democrats to launch an advertising campaign with the slogan: “If you come to Denmark you should work.”
Full Article: Denmark to vote in close election – BBC News.
