General election in Greenland 1979
In the parliamentary elections in Greenland in 1979 on April 4th, 21 seats in the Inatsisartut or Landsting, the new Greenland parliament, had to be filled. It replaced Grønlands Landsråd as the legislative body. This last consisted of 17 members.
Suffrage
The 21 members of the Inatsisartut were elected in single-person constituencies using majority voting . In Greenland, the procedure was only used in this parliamentary election and was replaced four years later by proportional representation .
Starting position
- GAS : 1
- KNAPK : 2
- Independent: 14
All parties running for this election were founded within the seventh and final legislative period of Grønlands Landsråd since 1975. So the Atassut was founded in 1976 as a political movement and on April 29, 1978 as a party. The Siumut was created on July 29, 1977, while the roots of the Inuit Ataqatigiit also lie in a movement created in 1976. The party of the same name was founded in 1978.
Numerous politicians who have now run for parliamentary elections for various parties have already sat as independent members of the last Greenland State Council. In addition to 14 independent members, this comprised two representatives from the Greenland Fishermen and Hunters Organization (KNAPK) and one from the trade union association (GAS). Both lists did not run for the first election of Inatsisartut. The last regional council chairman was Lars Chemnitz .
Result
The social democratic party Siumut became the strongest faction in Inatsisartut, followed by the Atassut. Due to the majority vote, the parliament consisted of only two parliamentary groups for the last time after this election. Since then, no party has achieved an absolute majority.
The ruling party after this election is marked with a dot (•).
| Political party | German meaning | Alignment | be right | % | Mandates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| • | Siumut | Forward | Social democracy | 8,505 | 46.1 | 13 |
| Atassut | Common sense | Right liberalism | 7,688 | 41.7 | 8th | |
| Sulisartut Partiiat | Workers' Party | Democratic socialism | 1,041 | 5.6 | - | |
| Inuit Ataqatigiit | Inuit community | Democratic socialism | 813 | 4.4 | - | |
| Independent candidates | 396 | 2.2 | - | |||
| Valid votes | 18,443 | 100.0 | 21st | |||
| Empty and invalid | 1,508 | |||||
| Votes cast | 19,951 | |||||
| Turnout: 69.6% (+ 2.8% p), source: Grønlands Statistics | ||||||
consequences
Jonathan Motzfeldt (Siumut) was elected Prime Minister of Greenland on May 1, 1979. In the previous legislative term he was deputy to the President of Parliament Lars Chemnitz. The Motzfeldt I cabinet was confirmed by Parliament on May 7th and consisted of four other ministers in addition to the Prime Minister, all of whom belonged to the Siumut.
