The Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne), is a Danish political party. After the 2001 parliamentary elections it became the second largest party, with 29.1% of the votes and 52 seats. After the election of 2005, it is still the second largest party with 25,8% (867.350 votes) and 47 seats. These results were the first time the Social Democrats were not the most popular party since the end of World War II. The party is currently led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and it is a member of the Party of European Socialists and the Socialist International. It has five MEPs in the European Parliament, an increase of three after the election in 2004. The increase was mainly supported by the large number of voters who voted for former party leader and prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

Recent history

After the election loss the Liberal Party 2001 elections, the party chairmanship went to Mogens Lykketoft, who held the post of Minister of Finance for several years under Poul Nyrup Rasmussen leadership.

The Social Democrats' social policy through the 1990s and continuing in the 21st century involved a significant redistribution of income, the maintenance of a large state apparatus, with collectively financed core services, such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure. The Social Democrats had maintained a parliamentary majority during the period from 1993 to 2001 by virtue of their support from the Socialist People's Party and the Unity List, both parties which are considered significantly left-wing.

The Social Democrats raised taxes on people with low income by enacting the Gross Income Tax (Bruttoskat) which taxed 8 percent of all income. This runs contrary to the party's image of being a supporter of those less well off economically.

Towards the end of the 1990s, the trade surplus of 30 billion Kroner (USD 4.9 billion) became a deficit in 1999. To combat this, the Social Democrats increased taxes, limiting private consumption. It worked, but the initiative, called "Pinsepakken of 1999" (en: "The Whitson Packet", named from the season it was issued), was very unpopular among the Danish populace. It was one factor in their defeat in the 2001 general election.

An extraordinary congress was organized on March 12, 2005. At this extraordinary congress it was decided to let the Socialdemocratic members members have a pre-election, where they could choose between two candidats for the leadership of the party. The two candidates represented the two wings in the party. The candidate Helle Thorning-Schmidt is a pro-active social democrat, that is more focused on results than idealism. The other was Frank Jensen, one of the more experienced members of the party, who was in many years expected to follow the old leader Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. Frank Jensen is part of the left wing in Social Democrats. On April 12 Helle Thorning-Schmidt was elected as the new leader.

See also

• Politics of Denmark
• List of political parties in Denmark

External link

• Socialdemokraterne