What you need to know for the test
- Folketing elections must be held at least every four years – this is laid down in the constitution.
- The voting age is 18. For Folketing elections you must also have Danish citizenship (indfødsret) and permanent residence in the realm.
- The electoral threshold (spærregrænsen) at Folketing elections is normally 2 per cent of the valid votes.
- Municipal and regional elections are held every four years in November – Danish citizenship is not required here.
- EU citizens, citizens of Iceland and Norway, and people with four years of permanent residence in Denmark can vote in the local elections.
- Elections to the European Parliament are held every five years. Denmark has 15 of the 720 members.
- All eligible voters living in Denmark automatically receive a polling card (valgkort), and you can vote by post before election day.
- It is the prime minister who is responsible for calling a new election to the Folketing.
Folketing elections: at least every four years
According to Grundloven (the Danish constitution), Folketing elections must be held at least every four years. The members of Folketinget (the Danish parliament) are thus elected for a maximum of four years at a time. It is the prime minister who calls a new election – either after the four years or earlier, if the prime minister so wishes.
Folketing elections are held as universal, direct and secret elections. Universal means that everyone with Danish citizenship has the right to vote (valgret) once they have turned 18 and have permanent residence in the realm – Denmark, Greenland or the Faroe Islands. Direct means that people vote directly for candidates or parties. Secret means that no one can see whom you vote for.
Anyone who has the right to vote is normally also eligible to stand (valgbar) – that is, they can run for and be elected to the Folketing. However, you must not have been convicted of anything that in the public's eyes makes you unworthy of sitting in the Folketing. There is no duty to vote, but since the year 2000 an average of 86 per cent of voters have voted in Folketing elections – a high share compared with the neighbouring countries.
The electoral system and the 2 per cent threshold
The seats (mandates) in the Folketing are distributed by proportional representation. This means that a party receives, as far as possible, the same share of the seats as it received of the valid votes cast. If a party gets ten per cent of the votes, it should get roughly ten per cent of the seats.
Normally an electoral threshold applies: a party must receive at least 2 per cent of the valid votes to enter the Folketing. The threshold is lower than in many neighbouring countries – in Sweden and Norway it is four per cent and in Germany five per cent. This is why there are typically many parties in the Folketing: since the Landslide Election (Jordskredsvalget) of 1973 (see Denmark after 1945), between 7 and 12 parties have been elected at each election.
Most candidates stand for a party entitled to run (opstillingsberettiget parti). Parties elected at the previous Folketing election are automatically entitled to run; new parties must collect signatures (normally about 20,000). You can also stand outside the parties with the endorsement of at least 150 voters in your nomination district, but very few have been elected that way.
How to vote: polling card and postal voting
All eligible voters living in Denmark automatically receive a polling card (valgkort). On election day you can vote in two ways: for a specific candidate (a personal vote) or for a party (a party vote). You may only put one cross on the ballot paper.
You can also vote by post (brevstemme) before election day instead of turning up at the polling station. This is often done by casting your vote in an envelope at the Citizen Service centre (Borgerservice) in your kommune (municipality). Postal votes can also often be cast at, for example, hospitals and care homes. Once the votes have been counted, the elected parties negotiate over who is to form the government.
Municipal and regional elections: every four years in November
Denmark consists of 98 kommuner (municipalities) and five regions. The municipalities are led by elected municipal councils (kommunalbestyrelser, often called byråd), whose chair is called the mayor (borgmester). The regions are led by regional councils (regionsråd). Members are elected for four years at a time, and the election is held across the whole country every four years in November. The tasks of the municipalities and regions are described under the welfare society.
For the local elections you do not need Danish citizenship. You must be at least 18 years old and have permanent residence in the municipality or region – and beyond that, it is enough that you are either a citizen of another EU country, of Iceland or of Norway, or have lived permanently in Denmark without interruption for the last four years before election day. Most nationwide parties also run locally, but local citizens' groups can run on their own lists of candidates, the so-called local lists (lokallister). Voter turnout has averaged 73 per cent since 2000.
Elections to the European Parliament
Elections to the European Parliament are held every five years. The Parliament consists of 720 members from the 27 EU countries, and Denmark has 15 members. The members are grouped by political views – not by country. The most recent election was held in June 2024. Turnout is lower than at the other elections: an average of 58 per cent since 2000.
The political parties and the blocs
The political parties are probably the most important participants in Danish democracy, but they are not mentioned in the constitution. The four oldest parties in the Folketing – Socialdemokratiet (the Social Democrats), Venstre, Radikale Venstre and Det Konservative Folkeparti – are often called the 'parties of government', because they have been in government for by far the most years. At the 2022 Folketing election, 12 parties were elected to the Folketing.
The parties are traditionally divided into two wings: the centre-right (borgerlige) parties and the parties of the left wing. The parties that hold government power together are called government parties. If they together hold a majority in the Folketing, it is called a majority government – like the government formed after the 2022 election by Socialdemokratiet, Venstre and Moderaterne. Since World War II, however, most governments have been minority governments, which need votes from supporting parties outside the government. The parties opposed to the government are called the opposition. More key terms are explained in the glossary, and in the guide to the indfødsretsprøven you can see how this topic features in the test.