Since the local elections took place on Tuesday, several municipalities have witnessed a flurry of activity as mayoral positions have shifted hands amid a series of successful and unsuccessful political maneuvers.
This scramble for leadership is primarily driven by a critical deadline: municipalities must hold their constitutive meetings by December 15, at which point the newly established governance will take effect.
To streamline this process and potentially minimize the turmoil, Kasper Møller Hansen, a professor and election researcher from the University of Copenhagen, has suggested a revision to the negotiation timeline. He proposes that the constitutive meetings be held no later than December 15 to expedite agreement and clarity. “That way, you can seal the deal. There’s no reason to wait until December 15,” he told DR.
However, Roger Buch, a municipal researcher at Denmark’s Media and Journalism College (DMJX), disagrees with Hansen’s approach. “You can’t make a technical fix for this,” he stated in an interview with Ritzau, emphasizing that shortening the negotiation window isn’t likely to deter politicians from switching alliances or reneging on agreements.
Buch pointed out that, in most municipalities, these transitions tend to occur without incident. “We just have to accept that in a handful—perhaps two handfuls—of the 98 municipalities, things can get a bit wild,” he remarked, noting that political complexities are not confined to municipal governance alone; similar scenarios unfold in the corridors of Christiansborg.
Recent events on Sunday vividly illustrated this volatility. In Aalborg Municipality, what was initially a settled agreement on election night quickly unraveled. De Radikale’s Jes Lunde declared himself the new mayor when he switched allegiance from the red bloc to the blue bloc. But mere hours later, Lasse Frimand Jensen of the Social Democrats reclaimed the title after a conservative mandate broke ranks with its party, supporting Jensen instead.
In Slagelse, a once confident agreement had Knud Vincents from Venstre poised to assume office. However, after SF withdrew their support on Friday, it appeared a Social Democrat would step into the role. A press conference had even been scheduled to announce this change but was abruptly canceled when Henrik Brodersen from the Danish People’s Party chose to align with other blue parties, paving the way for him to become the new mayor.
Buch pointed out that this year’s local elections evoke a sense of déjà vu reminiscent of the turbulence seen in 2009. Back then, eight municipalities experienced mayoral shake-ups before their constitutive meetings, prompting inquiries from both the Ministry of the Economy and the Interior and the National Association of Municipalities (KL) about the process.
In 2012, following a thorough investigation, the findings were clear: any rules aimed at limiting the discretion of individual municipal board members could compromise fundamental democratic principles. Instead, politicians were encouraged to establish a local code of good practice for constitutive processes.
The prospect of shortening the constitutional period was also evaluated, but both the ministry and KL concluded that such a shift would not effectively prevent party changes among politicians.
As the drama continues to unfold in the days leading up to the constitutive meetings, constituents and observers alike are left to ponder the implications of these political maneuvers and what they mean for local governance in Denmark.
