Election campaign
Until Thursday they stuck together as members of the coalition parties. Now Stephanie Lose, Jesper Petersen and Henrik Frandsen are competing in a tough election campaign, as they told Copenhagen correspondent Walter Turnowksy.
The crowd in front of the Folketingssaal is thick after State Minister Mette Frederiksen (Social Affairs) announced that she was calling an election for March 24th. Representatives of the press look for politicians who they can lure in front of the camera, the microphone or the block.
Frederiksen’s party colleague Jesper Petersen from Woyens (Vojens) briefly chats with colleagues in the plenary hall. Then he comes out the door too.
“It’s going to be super exciting and a really important election for Denmark. I’m happy with the commitment I think I’ve made in this electoral period,” he tells the “Nordschleswiger”, adding that he hopes that the voters in North Schleswig will once again place their trust in him.
Henrik Frandsen expects an intensive election campaign
The mood among the MPs is exuberant. People hug each other and wish each other a good election campaign across party lines. Shortly afterwards, Henrik Frandsen from the Moderates also comes out of the plenary hall.
“It will be an intensive election campaign; the 24th is just around the corner. We can put up posters on Saturday,” he tells the “Nordschleswiger”.
The former mayor of Tondern took over as Minister for Seniors just over three weeks ago. He was previously leader of the Moderate parliamentary group.
First Folketing election for Venstre vice-president
Venstre Vice Stephanie Lose, who comes from Lügumkloster (Løgumkloster), was also part of Mette Frederiksen’s cabinet as Minister of Economic Affairs. Now the two parties are competing for government power. Venstre chairman Troels Lund Poulsen has not yet declared himself as a candidate for state minister, but the expectation at Christiansborg is that this will happen shortly.
“I expect that the discussions will be about the safety and security of the population. It will be an exciting election campaign; I’m looking forward to it,” she says.
It will be the first Folketing election campaign for Lose. During the election period she moved directly from the regional council to the Ministry of Economics. Shortly before, she had taken over the second chairmanship of Venstre. The Esbjerg-based politician’s focus was therefore primarily on national political issues.
“I will of course spend a lot of time at home in southern Jutland and northern Schleswig during the election campaign,” announces Lose before she rushes off up the stairs towards the parliamentary group room.
Moderates on the rise
Things weren’t looking particularly good for the moderates in the polls before the turn of the year. Thanks to the performance of party leader and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen during the Greenland crisis, the party is currently on the rise.
“Thanks to the mood in the party, I have a good feeling. We will go full throttle from now on,” says Frandsen.
He hopes that after the election his party will tip the scales and become part of a center coalition again. However, the three government parties are very far from a shared majority in the polls.
Jesper Petersen promises commitment to North Schleswig
The Social Democratic leader did not want to commit to a coalition in her speech announcing the election. It keeps open the possibility of a new coalition across the center as well as a left-wing coalition.
Like his boss, Jesper Petersen would of course like to implement as many social democratic policies as possible if he were to be re-elected. However, he also promises to continue to work for his home region.
“I would like to continue to fight for the concerns of North Schleswig. No matter whether it is about training opportunities, infrastructure, defense policy or the marine environment and climate protection,” he says, documenting that the election campaign has begun.
