Historic Defeat as Social Democrats Lose Copenhagen After a Century

Denmark's political establishment was shaken on Tuesday night as the Social Democrats suffered sweeping defeats in municipal and regional elections, losing their century-long grip on Copenhagen and ceding mayoral dominance to their center-right rival Venstre.

The symbolic centerpiece of the Social Democrats' losses was Copenhagen, where the party has held the position of lord mayor continuously since 1938. Sisse Marie Welling from SF (Socialist People's Party) will now take the helm, declaring triumphantly: "We have written history at city hall." The victory came despite the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) remaining the capital's largest party with 22.1% of the vote, while SF secured 17.9%.

The defeated Social Democrat candidate, Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil—a close personal friend of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen who was widely understood to have been handpicked for the role—saw her party's support in Copenhagen plummet from 17.2% in 2021 to just 12.7%. Conceding defeat, she reflected: "Copenhagen is worth fighting for, and I knew from the start that I was taking a big risk."

Nationally, Venstre has overtaken the Social Democrats as the country's largest mayoral party, securing 39 mayoral posts against 25 for the Social Democrats, with 12 municipalities still finalizing coalition agreements. This reverses the 2021 outcome when the Social Democrats won 44 mayoralties to Venstre's 34.

Paradoxically, despite losing mayoralties, the Social Democrats remain Denmark's largest party by overall vote share, winning 23.2% nationwide. However, this represents a precipitous decline of 5.2 percentage points from 2021's 28.4%, translating into a loss of 156 council seats across the country. Venstre also experienced a decline, dropping 3.3 percentage points to 17.9%, but its strategic positioning in coalition negotiations has propelled it to mayoral dominance.

Prime Minister Frederiksen acknowledged the magnitude of the defeat. "We had expected to go back, but it seems that the decline is greater than we had expected," she admitted, while insisting the results did not invalidate her decision to form a broad governing coalition. Taking personal responsibility, she stated: "I always take responsibility for what happens in the Social Democrats. Naturally, I do so today as well."

Frederiksen attributed the losses to rising food prices, growing disparities between rural and urban areas, and crime committed by "people coming from outside"—a reference that reinforces her controversial hardline stance on immigration, which analysts cite as a key factor in Copenhagen's shift away from the party.

Despite the overall losses, the Social Democrats retained control of Denmark's major urban centers. Anders Winnerskjold secured a broad coalition in Aarhus, Peter Rahbæk Juel achieved a rare all-party agreement in Odense, and the party held onto Aalborg and Frederiksberg, though with diminished vote shares. However, the party lost ground in previously reliable municipalities including Frederikshavn, Køge, Fredericia, Gladsaxe, and Holstebro.

Voter engagement increased, with turnout rising to 69.2% from 67.5% in 2021, suggesting heightened public interest in local governance.

Regional elections reinforced the rightward trend. Only the newly formed Region Østdanmark will have a Social Democrat chairman, Lars Gaardhøj. The remaining regions chose leaders from Venstre, with notable victories in Central Denmark, where Anders G. Christensen defeated longtime incumbent Anders Kühnau, and North Jutland, where Mads Duedahl retained leadership.

Peter Thisted Dinesen, a political science professor at the University of Copenhagen, characterized the results as "very hurtful for the party losing several key bastions including Copenhagen." While he suggested Frederiksen's position as prime minister remains secure, he predicted the results would "clearly prompt analyses and discussions of the causes."