Danish People's Party

Pia Kjærsgaard, co-founder and chairman of the Danish People's Party from 1995 until 2012. Bornholm, 2011

The Danish People's Party was founded on 6 October 1995, after Pia Kjærsgaard, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, broke out from the Progress Party.[17] Its first national convention was held in Vissenbjerg on 1 June 1996, where Pia Kjærsgaard was unanimously elected as the party's chairman.[18] The party was established in protest over the "anarchistic conditions" of the Progress Party, and its "all or nothing" policies. It was initially seen by many as a "clone" of the Progress Party, but this was soon proved false.[17] In a struggle to be respected as a responsible party able to cooperate with others and distance it from the conditions in the Progress Party, the leadership of the party struck down criticism from its members by means of expulsions.[10] The party saw a highly centralized party leadership as necessary, as it would not tolerate internal conflicts and disagreements with the official strategy.[19]

The party was the first successful parliamentary party in the Nordic countries to relate philosophically more closely to the French Nouvelle Droite, than to the previous Nordic form of right-wing populism. DF represented a synthesis of several political currents: the Lutheran movement Tidehverv and its related journal, an intellectual nationalist right from the Danish Association (Den Danske Forening) and conservative populists from the Progress Party.[20][21]

In 1997, the party won about 7% in the municipal elections, and did very well in traditional left-wing municipalities, potentially rivaling the Social Democrats.[22] By 1998, the party had 2,500 registered members.[22] The party made its electoral debut in the 1998 Danish parliamentary election, winning 13 seats and 7.4% of the vote. The party was, however, left with no influence in the formation of a government; it was shut out in large part due to the perception that it was not stuerent (i.e. not acceptable or "housebroken").[10]

Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen who in 2001 began giving the DF political concessions for supporting his governments. Copenhagen, 2006

In the 2001 election, the party won 12% of the vote and 22 seats in parliament. It became the third largest party in the parliament, giving them a key position, as they would have a parliamentary majority together with the Conservative People's Party and Venstre. DF was favoured by these parties, as it had supported the Venstre candidate for Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, during the election campaign.[19] Eventually, it gave its parliamentary support for a Venstre-Conservative coalition government, headed by Prime Minister Rasmussen, in exchange for the implementation of some of their key demands, first and foremost stricter policies on immigration.[10] The party had a key role in writing the rules and conditions for immigration in the immigration law that was established by the government in May 2002,[23] which it called "Europe's strictest".[24]

In the 2005 election the party further increased their vote, and won 13.2% of the vote and 24 seats.[10] With young first-time voters the party was even more popular, receiving one fifth of their votes.[25] The party continued to support the government, and developed a broader policy base, as it made welfare policies its core issue, together with immigration policies.[10]

In 2006, the party's popularity rose dramatically in opinion polls following the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, at the expense of the Social Democrats. The average of all monthly national polls showed DF gaining seven seats in parliament from January to February, with the Social Democrats losing an equal number.[26] This effect, however, somewhat waned with the falling media attention to the cartoons controversy.

In the 2007 parliamentary election, DF won 13.9% and 25 seats, and again continued to support the Conservative-Liberal government. Thus, in every election since its founding the party has had a steady growth, although the growth rate has stagnated somewhat in recent years. Parties in the political centre, particularly the newly founded New Alliance had sought to become the kingmaker and be able to isolate the immigration policies of DF, but eventually failed.[10] The party was a member of the Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (MELD).[27][28]

In the 2009 elections for the European Parliament the prime candidate for the party, Morten Messerschmidt, won his seat in a landslide with 284,500 personal votes (most votes for any single candidate by any party); thus giving the party a second seat (which went to Anna Rosbach Andersen).[29] The party made a breakthrough from its previous results in European elections, more than doubling its vote to 15.3%, and receiving 2 MEPs.

On 15 September 2012, Kristian Thuesen Dahl succeeded Kjærsgaard as chairman.[30]

During the 2015 election the DF won 21.08% of the national vote under the leadership of Kristian Thulesen Dahl, the highest since its founding and gained 37 seats putting the party in second place. In the aftermath, the party entered negotiations with Venstre to again provide parliamentary support in return for stricter policies on immigration and the EU. A minority government headed by Lars Løkke Rasmussen was subsequently formed with the DF, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People's Party providing support.[31]

The party suffered a major defeat in the 2019 election, recording its worst result since 1998. It won just 8.7% of the vote and 16 seats, a net loss of 21 seats since 2015; it fell to third place, just narrowly outpolling the Social Liberals. Some journalists and political commentators opined that the DF's loss in support was as a result of the party's refusal and indecisiveness on taking direct part in government and the main parties including the Social Democrats adopting many of the DF's policies on immigration and integration.[32]

In January 2022, Dahl stood down as leader and was replaced by Morten Messerschmidt in a leadership election where he won 499 out of the 828 delegators' votes against two other candidates.[33] After Messerschmidt a total of 11 out of 16 MPs had in June left the party including Thuelsen Dahl who was the only one of them who passed on his seat to the next in line.[34]

Danish People's Party's current parliamentary group with party chairman Morten Messerschmidt to the far right. Copenhagen, 2023

At the 2022 election, the party suffered its worst election result ever with 2.6% of the vote, equal to 5 seats.[35] In December 2022, Morten Messerschmidt was acquitted of all charges related to prior allegations of misuse of EU funds according to several political analysts and commentators, paving the way for a restoration of the party.[36][37][38][39][40] During January and February 2023, Mikkel Bjørn and Mette Thiesen, who were both elected for Nye Borgerlige, joined the Danish People's Party, increasing its seat count to seven.[41][42]

Poster for the 2007 election. It referred to the controversy the year before, depicting a hand-drawn image of Islamic prophet Muhammad with caption "Freedom of speech is Danish, censorship is not", and "We stand our ground on Danish values".[50][51][52]

DF is opposed to immigration.[53] The party holds that Denmark is not naturally a country of immigration. The party also does not accept a multi-ethnic transformation of Denmark,[54] and rejects multiculturalism.[10] Former party leader Pia Kjærsgaard stated she did "not want Denmark as a multiethnic, multicultural society",[55] and that a multiethnic Denmark would be a "national disaster".[56] The party seeks to drastically reduce non-Western immigration, opposes and favors cultural assimilation of immigrants from all religions. In 2010, the party proposed to put a complete stop to all immigration from non-Western countries, a continuation of a proposal the month before to toughen the 24-year rule.[57] They do, however, make the distinction between immigrants, those who intend to stay in Denmark permanently, and refugees, those that will only be in Denmark for the duration of the conflict, but ultimately intend to return home. The party has stated that it is more than happy to help those in need, but have a moral responsibility to the people of Denmark to keep Denmark Danish.[58]

Cooperation with the Conservative-Liberal coalition government resulted in the implementation of some of their key demands, most importantly strong restrictions in immigration policies, which have resulted in what is often described as Europe's strictest immigration laws.[24] The new government enacted rules that prevented Danish citizens and others from bringing a foreign spouse into the country unless both partners were aged 24 or above, passed a solvency test showing the Dane had not claimed social security for 12 months, and could lodge a bond of 60,011 kroner (about US$10,100). One declared aim of this was to fight arranged marriages. These new rules had the effect that while about 8,151 family reunification permits were granted in 2002, the number had fallen to 3,525 by 2005. Some social benefits for refugees were also cut by 30-40% during their first seven years in power. Ordinary unemployment benefits were replaced by a reduced "start-up aid". Whereas the government coalition's declared aim with this was to improve integration by inciting people to work, immigration spokesman Søren Krarup of DF has expressed his content in that the start-up aid has decreased the number of economic refugees greatly, showing them that "one does not find gold on the street, as has been told out in the third world".[59] Nevertheless, total immigration increased post implementation of the migration reforms.

The party wants to improve conditions for the elderly and disabled, and advocates stricter punishments for crimes such as rape, violence, sexual abuse, reckless driving, and cruelty to animals. It supports grants for specific research into terrorism, Islamism, and Cold War history as well as increased defense spending. It also wants to maintain the Danish monarchy and the current Danish constitution, and to abolish the 'hate speech' clause in the Danish criminal code.[60][61]

Campaign poster at Copenhagen Central Station during the 2014 European Parliament election where the DF became the biggest party and Messerschmidt received the highest number of personal votes ever cast in a Danish election.

The party opposes a cession of Denmark's sovereignty to the European Union and opposes further EU integration and Eurofederalism. It also opposes the Euro currency and wants to maintain the Danish krone. It is also against the potential accession of Turkey to the European Union.[62] DF is Eurosceptic.[63][64]

The party initially voted in favour of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but in 2014, the foreign affairs spokesman Søren Espersen said this support had been mistaken and that the rule of former dictator Saddam Hussein was "far preferable" to the events that followed.[65] He claimed the party had "blindly followed" Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the time of the invasion.[66]

The party supported Danish enforcement of a no-fly zone during the 2011 military intervention in Libya,[67] but was initially sceptical of proposals for direct Danish military involvement. The party later supported the decision out of solidarity with NATO.[68] The party leadership subsequently supported extending the Danish mission in Libya, despite the disagreement of its defense spokesman Ib Poulsen.[69][70] Three years after the intervention, foreign affairs spokesman Espersen stated the party's support for the intervention was a "mistake" and predicated on a misunderstanding of the ideology of the Libyan rebels.[71]

The party supported Danish participation in France's Operation Serval against Islamist fighters in Mali. However, it opposed proposals for Danish involvement in the Syrian Civil War.[72]

The party seeks international recognition of Taiwan and supports Taiwan in its disputes with the People's Republic of China.[73] In 2007, the party opposed the Danish government's plan to recognise the independence of Kosovo, and maintained the territorial integrity of Serbia.[74] The DF is supportive of Israel and opposes the recognition of Palestine on the grounds that there is no effective Palestinian state,[75] and wants to move the Danish embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.[76] The DF also supports Danish membership of NATO.[77]