Pro-US Danish government reelected

The Danish coalition government of the Liberal and the Conservative party was re-elected in Tuesday’s election, the first time ever for a non-socialist government. Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen will continue for another four years, despite a slight loss of electoral support. The coalition will still be relying on the xenophopic anti-immigration Danish People’s Party for votes in Parliament.

For the Social Democrats the result was nothing short of disastrous. They lost five seats, and when the leader of the party, Mogens Lykketoft, conceded defeat, he also announced that he is to resign as party leader – plunging the Social Democrats into yet another leadership battle.

The Danish Liberal party is a centre-right party advocating low taxes and personal freedom. It was one of Europe’s most solid supporters of US during the Iraq invasion. In its first term, the coalition changed liberal Danish rules on immigration into Europe’s toughest, including a 24 years old age limit on family reunification.