IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Denmark

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Parliamentary
September 2015

Denmark
Kingdom of Denmark
Region: Europe

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: Queen MARGRETHE II
Head of Government: Prime Minister Helle THORNING-SCHMIDT
Assembly: Denmark has a unicameral Parliament (Folketinget) with 179 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The Queen is the hereditary head of state.
The Prime Minister is appointed by the monarch.
In the Parliament (Folketinget), 135 members are elected by open list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms, 40 members are elected by open list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 4 members are elected by open list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.***

*** There are three electoral regions in Denmark: Metropolitan Copenhagen, the Islands, and Jutland. 17 multi-member constituencies are divided among these regions. Also, a share of compensatory seats proportional to its population is allocated to each electoral region.

First, constituency seats are allocated to each party in proportion to its share of votes. Parties become eligible for compensatory seats if they meet any of three conditions: winning a constituency seat, winning in two of three regions shares of votes equal to or greater than the number of votes cast per individual seat in each region, or winning two percent of votes nationwide.

Next, compensatory seats are allocated to each party to make its overall vote share effectively equal to its overall seat share. The first step here is allocating compensatory seats to each electoral region. The Sainte-Lague procedure is applied to each party's region-level vote share. Quotients resulting from this procedure that correspond to constituency seats are disregarded. The 40 compensatory seats go to the party-regions with the 40 largest remaining quotients. The second step is allocating these party-region seats to constituencies. A second, similar quotient procedure is applied at the constituency level. Disregarding quotients corresponding to party seats already won in the constituency tier, party-region seats are allocated to parties within constituencies from highest to lowest party-constituency quotient, until all compensatory seats are exhausted.

The end result of these processes is a number of seats to be allocated to each eligible party at the constituency level. The electoral system is open-list proportional representation, but parties may opt to field closed lists.

For a fuller overview, see the "Parliamentary Elections and Election Administration in Denmark" document in the "Links" section.