Folketing

Folketing

coat of arms	Christiansborg Palace
Basic data
Seat:	Christiansborg Palace , Copenhagen
Legislative period :	4 years
First session:	1849
MPs:	179
Current legislative period
Last choice:	5th June 2019
Chair:	President of Parliament Henrik Dam Kristensen ( S )
Distribution of seats:	Government (48) A 48 Tolerance (47) B 16 F 15 Ø 13 Inuit Ataqatigiit 1 (G) Siumut 1 (G) Javnaðarflokkurin 1 (F) Opposition (84) V 42 O 16 C 13 D 4 I 3 Å 1 Fremad 1 Sambandsflokkurin 1 (F) Independent 3 (F) MPs from the Faroe Islands (G) MPs from Greenland
Website
www.ft.dk

The Folketing [ ˈfɔlkə.tɪŋ ] ( German for "People's Assembly") is the Danish parliament . Since 1953 it has consisted of a chamber with 179 representatives . Two “North Atlantic” MPs will be elected from the Faroe Islands and two from Greenland . A two percent hurdle applies to the distribution of the 175 Danish mandates, but this can be avoided by obtaining a district mandate.

The seat of parliament is Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen .

Until 1953, the Folketing formed only one of two chambers of the Danish Reichstag, while the Landsting formed the first chamber.

The Folketing is elected for four years. However, the Prime Minister can call for new elections at any time. If the government fails to find a majority in the Folketing on an issue that is considered significant, the Prime Minister must either resign with his government or call new elections.

As the fifth country in the world after New Zealand , Australia , Finland and Norway , Denmark and Iceland incorporated women's suffrage into the constitution in 1915 . It was first used in 1918.

Parties in the Folketing

After the election on June 5, 2019 , the Folketing was composed as follows:

logo		Political party	list	Alignment	Party chairman / party leader	Seats
						after the election	current	+/-
		Socialdemokraterne (S) social democrats	A.	social democratic	Mette Frederiksen	48	48	▬
		Venstre (V) Liberals	V	liberal, conservative	Lars Løkke Rasmussen (until August 31, 2019) Jakob Ellemann-Jensen (since September 21, 2019)	43	42	▼ 1
		Dansk Folkeparti (DF) Danish People's Party	O	right-wing populist	Kristian Thulesen Dahl	16	16	▬
		Radical Venstre (RV) social liberals	B.	social liberal	Morten Østergaard	16	16	▬
		Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF) Socialist People's Party	F.	democratic-socialist , green	Pia Olsen Dyhr	14th	15th	▲ 1
		Enhedslisten (EL) unit list	O	socialist , left alternative	collective	13	13	▬
		Conservative Folkeparti  (K) Conservative People's Party	C.	conservative	Søren Pape Poulsen	12	13	▲ 1
		Alternative (ALT) Alternative	Å	green	Uffe Elbæk (until February 1, 2020) Josephine Fock (since February 1, 2020)	5	1	▼ 4
		Liberal Alliance (LA) Liberal Alliance	I.	liberal	Anders Samuelsen (until June 6, 2019) Alex Vanopslagh (since June 9, 2019)	4th	3	▼ 1
		Nye Borgerlige New Bourgeois	D.	right-wing populist	Pernille Vermund	4th	4th	▬
		Fremad forward		liberal	Simon Emil Ammitzbøll-Bille	-	1	▲ 1
		Independent				-	3	▲ 3

Chamber with electronic voting board

MEPs from the Faroe Islands
Political party		Alignment	Seats	Surname
	Sambandsflokkurin	liberal	1	Edmund Joensen
	Javnaðarflokkurin	social democratic	1	Sjúrður Skaale
MPs from Greenland
Political party		Alignment	Seats	Surname
	Inuit Ataqatigiit	socialist	1	Aaja Chemnitz Larsen
	Siumut	social democratic	1	Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam

Government formation

Parliamentary basis of the Danish governments 1945–2013. Election years are noted on the left, the party abbreviations on the right (database: Folketingets oplysning).

The Prime Minister is appointed by the King. The constitution does not provide for a majority election in parliament corresponding to the majority of the chancellors in the German Bundestag. However, the head of state may not appoint a prime minister against the informal will of parliament. This parliamentary principle was established in 1901 and finally enforced in the course of a serious constitutional crisis in 1920.

The Prime Minister does not need a formally documented majority in parliament, he just cannot have an obvious majority against him. This fact favors the formation of minority governments. You either have to look for majorities with changing partners or you can commit to permanent cooperation partners. Since the dissolution of the national collection Government end of 1945 coalitions have a total of only seven years its own majority have (see. List of Danish governments ). Absolute majorities of a single party in the Folketing have only existed between 1901 and 1906 since the introduction of parliamentarism.

North Atlantic MPs

Since the constitutional reform of 1953, mathematical majorities have also been made more difficult by the fact that the four members of the Greenland and Faroe Islands - referred to as “North Atlantic” in Denmark - generally do not join the government. Although they are fully fledged MPs, they usually limit themselves to only taking part in votes that concern the affairs of their countries of origin. The first exception was the appointment of the Greenlandic MP Mikael Gam as Greenland Minister (1960–1964) of the S - R governments Viggo Kampmann  II and Jens Otto Krag  I. Gam secured them a one-vote majority in parliament. He took part in important votes against the unwritten procedural rules and thus triggered violent protests from the opposition conservatives every time. Since then, governments have been formed seven times, including North Atlantic mandates: in 1971, Moses Olsen and Knud Hertling supported the social democrat Krag; Óli Breckmann supported Poul Schlüter (K) in the 1980s ; Jóannes Eidesgaard secured Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (S) further years of government in 1998 and Edmund Joensen declared his support for Anders Fogh Rasmussen (V) in 2007 . The parliamentary basis of the Thorning-Schmidt I and II governments as well as the Frederiksen government also included or includes MPs from the North Atlantic.

Allocation of seats since 1918

By 1918, women's suffrage and, more or less, proportional representation were introduced. The parties are sorted chronologically according to their first entry into the Folketing. The prime minister's party immediately after the election is highlighted in bold .

choice	S.	RV	K	V	Ep	SP	Rfb	DKP	FFp	DNSAP	Bp	DS	SF	Uaf	LC	VS	CD	KrF	Frp	FK	Tbsp	DF	LA	Å	NB	Non-party	total
Apr 22, 1918	39	32	22nd	45	1																						139
Apr 26, 1920	42	17th	28	48	4th																						139
July 6, 1920	42	16	26th	51	4th																						139
21 Sep 1920	48	18th	27	51	3	1																					148
Apr 11, 1924	55	20th	28	44		1																					148
Dec. 2, 1926	53	16	30th	46		1	2																				148
Apr. 24, 1929	61	16	24	43		1	3																				148
Nov 16, 1932	62	14th	27	38		1	4th	2																			148
Oct 22, 1935	68	14th	26th	28		1	4th	2	5																		148
Apr 3, 1939	64	14th	26th	30th		1	3	3		3	4th																148
March 23, 1943	66	13	31	28			2			3	2	3															148
Oct. 30, 1945	48	11	26th	38			3	18th				4th															148
Oct 28, 1947	57	10	17th	49			6th	9																			148
5th Sep 1950	59	12	27	32			12	7th																			149
Apr 21, 1953	61	13	26th	33			9	7th																			149
22 Sep 1953	74	14th	30th	42		1	6th	8th																			175
May 14, 1957	70	14th	30th	45		1	9	6th																			175
Nov 15, 1960	76	11	32	38		1							11	6th													175
22 Sep 1964	76	10	36	38									10	5													175
Nov 22, 1966	69	13	34	35									20th		4th												175
Jan. 23, 1968	62	27	37	34									11			4th											175
21 Sep 1971	70	27	31	30th									17th														175
Dec. 4, 1973	46	20th	16	22nd			5	6th					11				14th	7th	28								175
Jan. 9, 1975	53	13	10	42				7th					9			4th	4th	9	24								175
Feb 15, 1977	65	6th	15th	21st			6th	7th					7th			5	11	6th	26th								175
Oct 23, 1979	68	10	22nd	22nd			5						11			6th	6th	5	20th								175
Dec 8, 1981	59	9	26th	20th									21st			5	15th	4th	16								175
Jan. 10, 1984	56	10	42	22nd									21st			5	8th	5	6th								175
8 Sep 1987	54	11	38	19th									27				9	4th	9	4th							175
May 10, 1988	55	10	35	22nd									24				9	4th	16								175
Dec 12, 1990	69	7th	30th	29									15th				9	4th	12								175
21 Sep 1994	62	8th	27	42									13				5		11		6th					1	175
March 11, 1998	63	7th	16	42									13				8th	4th	4th		5	13					175
Nov 20, 2001	52	9	16	56									12					4th			4th	22nd					175
Feb 8, 2005	47	17th	18th	52									11								6th	24					175
Nov 13, 2007	45	9	18th	46									23								4th	25th	5				175
Sep 15 2011	44	17th	8th	47									16								12	22nd	9				175
June 18, 2015	47	8th	6th	34									7th								14th	37	13	9			175
5th June 2019	48	16	12	43									14th								13	16	4th	5	4th		175
Note: In addition to the total number of Folketing mandates, there are two MEPs from the autonomous Faroe Islands and Greenland
Source: Benito Scocozza and Grethe Jensen: Politikens Etbinds Danmarkshistorie . 3rd edition, 2005, p. 452 f .; supplemented according to Danmarks statistics

Presidents of Parliament

Julius Bomholt (Photo: 1966)

The Presidium of the Folketing consists of the President of Parliament and four deputies. It is responsible for chairing the meeting and the daily business of the Folketing. His election takes place in autumn at the beginning of a session year. Mogens Lykketoft ( Social Democrats ) has been President of Parliament since 2011 . His four deputies are (as of October 2014) Bertel Haarder ( Venstre ), Pia Kjærsgaard ( DF ), Lone Loklindt ( RV ) and Per Clausen ( Enhedslisten ). While in many parliaments the largest parliamentary group always provides the president, the Folketing has repeatedly agreed on a candidate from a smaller group. The four deputy posts are always distributed among the four largest parliamentary groups, which do not provide the speaker of parliament.

From	To	President of Parliament	Political party
January 30, 1850	August 3, 1852	Carl Christoffer Georg Andræ	De Nationalliberale
October 4, 1852	June 12, 1853	Johan Nicolai Madvig	De Nationalliberale
June 13, 1853	December 2, 1859	Carl Eduard Rotwitt	Bondevennernes Selskab
December 3, 1859	December 2, 1870	Laurids Nørgaard Bregendahl	De Nationalliberale
December 3, 1870	September 30, 1883	Christopher Krabbe	Venstre
October 1, 1883	October 2, 1887	Christians mountain	Venstre
October 3, 1887	December 16, 1894	Sofus Høgsbro	Venstre
December 17, 1894	April 16, 1895	Rasmus Claussen	Venstre
April 17, 1895	4th October 1901	Sofus Høgsbro	Venstre
October 5, 1901	January 30, 1905	Herman Trier	Venstre
January 31, 1905	March 14, 1912	Unlike Thomsen	Venstre
March 15, 1912	June 13, 1913	Jens Christian Christensen	Venstre
June 14, 1913	March 29, 1922	Niels Pedersen-Nyskov	Venstre
April 7, 1922	April 10, 1924	Jensen-Klejs	Venstre
April 30, 1924	November 24, 1932	Hans Peter Hansen	Social democrats
November 30, 1932	May 1, 1933	Gerhard Nielsen	Social democrats
May 9, 1933	October 30, 1945	Hans Rasmussen	Social democrats
November 22, 1945	February 22, 1950	Julius Bomholt	Social democrats
February 23, 1950	September 22, 1964	Gustav Pedersen	Social democrats
October 6, 1964	January 22, 1968	Julius Bomholt	Social democrats
February 6, 1968	September 30, 1978	Karl Skytte	Det Radical Venstre
3rd October 1978	December 8, 1981	Knud Børge Andersen	Social democrats
22nd December 1981	January 10, 1989	Svend Jakobsen	Social democrats
January 10, 1989	3rd October 1989	Erik Ninn-Hansen	Det conservative folk party
3rd October 1989	January 15, 1993	Hans Peter Clausen	Det conservative folk party
January 27, 1993	5th October 1994	Henning Rasmussen	Social democrats
5th October 1994	March 11, 1998	Erling Olsen	Social democrats
March 26, 1998	March 11, 2003	Ivar Hansen	Venstre
March 18, 2003	November 13, 2007	Christian Mejdahl	Venstre
November 28, 2007	4th October 2011	Thor Pedersen	Venstre
4th October 2011	3rd July 2015	Mogens Lykketoft	Social democrats
3rd July 2015	20th June 2019	Pia Kjærsgaard	Dansk Folkeparti
20th June 2019		Henrik Dam Kristensen	Social democrats

literature

• Tim Knudsen : Fra enevælde til folkestyre. Dansk democratic history indtil 1973 . Akademisk Forlag, Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-500-3890-0 .
• Tim Knudsen: Fra folkestyre til markedsdemokrati. Dansk democratic history efter 1973 . Akademisk Forlag, Copenhagen 2008, ISBN 978-87-500-3892-4 .
• Carsten Schymik: The European Committee of the Danish Folketing - the most powerful in Europe? (PDF; 245 kB). In: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Ed.): Internationale Politikanalyse . 2008.

Web links

Commons : Folketing  album with pictures, videos and audio files

Commons : Christiansborg Palace  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Folketing

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 437
2. ↑ Fintællingsresultat. Danmarks Statistics, accessed on June 29, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Fire Mandater med stor vægt. TV2 Nyheder, accessed August 13, 2011 . 
4. ↑ Result - Valgaften. Danmarks Statistics, accessed on August 16, 2011 . 

Coordinates: 55 ° 40 ′ 34 "  N , 12 ° 34 ′ 47"  E