2021 Copenhagen city council election
# 2021 Copenhagen city council election

Copenhagen Municipality is the largest municipality in Denmark. It has in it's history been a strong area for parties of the red bloc. In the 2019 Danish general election, it would become the municipality where the bloc received the highest % of votes. It is different from other municipalities as it has a total of 7 mayor positions. The biggest and most important one is the Lord Mayor, which has been held by the Social Democrats ever since 1938.

In the 2017 election, the Social Democrats had won 14 seats, and had become the largest party. It had then been Frank Jensen from the party who had won the Lord Mayor's position, going into his third term.

In 2020, he was accused of having sexually harassed a woman from the Social Democratic Youth of Denmark in 2012. He eventually replied in text - ”I’m very sad about what happended, and I want to apologize for this happening in our party. It’s not an acceptable behaviour, neither then or today. On behalf of the party – sorry Maria!!!”. 3 days later he would step down as Lord Mayor.

Lars Weiss would become working Lord Mayor following this.. He would however announce that he would not contest this election, and that he would only be the Lord Mayor until the next election. Instead Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, who was chair of the Capital Region of Denmark at the time, would be the only one standing to be the Social Democrats Lord Mayor candidate.

In November 2020, excitement arose as an opinion poll only having the Social Democrats become the largest party by 1.6% was released.. The Social Democrats had always been the largest party in the municipality, and it would be historic if it failed to do it this time. In October 2021, Epinion released an opinion poll that had the Red–Green Alliance, who had become the largest party in Copenhagen Municipality in the 2019 Danish general election,, as the largest party for this upcoming election.. 17 days later, and 4 days prior to the election, Gallup made an opinion poll that also had the Red–Green Alliance as the largest party.

In the election result, the Red–Green Alliance would manage to become the largest party, with a margin of 7.4%. They gained 4 seats, while the Social Democrats lost 5. Depsite this, it proved hard for the Red–Green Alliance to actually win the Lord Mayor's position. Right-wing and centre-right parties of Liberal Alliance and Venstre had prior to the election said they would be ready to support Sophie Hæstorp Andersen as the new mayor, to prevent the Red–Green Alliance from winning it. Leader of the Red–Green Alliance, reacted with joy, and said that she hoped that they could secure the Lord Mayor's position with a green majority, consisting of themselves, Danish Social Liberal Party, the Green Left and the The Alternative.. Eventually however, it was announced that Sophie Hæstorp Andersen would be the new mayor. Line Barfod from the Red–Green Alliance joined the agreement, citing that the Danish Social Liberal Party would not support her, and that the Social Democrats would rather work with the right-wing parties than support her. To prevent the latter from happening, she decided that the Red–Green Alliance should be a part of the agreement making Sophie Hæstorp Andersen the new mayor. In return, the Red–Green Alliance would get 2 of the 6 minor mayor positions.

## Electoral system

For elections to Danish municipalities, a number varying from 9 to 31 are chosen to be elected to the municipal council. However Copenhagen Municipality has, as the only one, a city council instead of a municipal council. In the city council 55 seats are contested.

The seats are then allocated using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation.

Unlike in Danish General Elections, in elections to city councils, electoral alliances are allowed.

## Electoral alliances

Source

Electoral Alliance 1

| Party | Political Position |
| - | - |
| Social Democrats | Centre-left |
| Danish Social Liberal Party | Centre to Centre-left |

Electoral Alliance 2

| Party | Political Position |
| - | - |
| Conservatives | Centre-right |
| Liberal Alliance | Centre-right to Right-wing |
| Christian Democrats | Centre to Centre-right |
| Danish People's Party | Right-wing |
| Venstre | Centre-right |
| Det Demokratiske Parti | Local Party |

Electoral Alliance 3

| Party | Political Position |
| - | - |
| Copenhagen | Local Party |
| Kærlighedspartiet (Regnbuefolket / | Local Party |

Electoral Alliance 4

| Party | Political Position |
| - | - |
| Vegan Party | Centre-left to Left-wing |
| Grøn Omstilling | Local Party |
| Klimapartiet Momentum | Local Party |
| The Alternative | Centre-left to Left-wing |

Electoral Alliance 5

| Party | Political Position |
| - | - |
| Christiania-Listen | Local Party |
| Green Left | Centre-left to Left-wing |
| Hampepartiet | Local Party |
| Kommunisterne | Local Party |
| Kommunistisk Parti | Local Party |
| Rolig Revolution | Local Party |
| Bæredygtigt samfund | Local Party |
| Red–Green Alliance | Left-wing to Far-left |

## Results

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Copenhagen City councility ||||||
| | Red–Green Alliance | 75,698 | 24.64 | 15 | +4 |
| | Social Democrats | 52,874 | 17.21 | 10 | -5 |
| | Conservatives | 40,172 | 13.08 | 8 | +5 |
| | Danish Social Liberal Party | 36,688 | 11.94 | 6 | +1 |
| | Green Left | 33,824 | 11.01 | 6 | +1 |
| | Venstre | 23,578 | 7.68 | 5 | 0 |
| | The Alternative | 8,988 | 2.93 | 2 | -4 |
| | Liberal Alliance | 8,428 | 2.74 | 1 | -1 |
| | New Right | 6,455 | 2.10 | 1 | +1 |
| | Danish People's Party | 5,907 | 1.92 | 1 | -2 |
| | Klimapartiet Momentum | 2,967 | 0.97 | 0 | New |
| | Vegan Party | 1,839 | 0.60 | 0 | New |
| | Danmark for Alle | 1,426 | 0.46 | 0 | New |
| | Københavnerlisten | 1,381 | 0.45 | 0 | New |
| | Kommunistisk Parti | 1,235 | 0.40 | 0 | New |
| | Christian Democrats | 1,187 | 0.39 | 0 | 0 |
| | Freedom List | 1,134 | 0.37 | 0 | New |
| | Hampepartiet | 573 | 0.19 | 0 | 0 |
| | Kærlighedspartiet (Regnbuefolket / | 490 | 0.16 | 0 | 0 |
| | Rolig Revolution | 445 | 0.14 | 0 | New |
| | Feministisk Initiativ | 405 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 |
| | Bæredygtigt samfund | 366 | 0.12 | 0 | New |
| | Kommunisterne | 352 | 0.11 | 0 | New |
| | Christiania-Listen | 325 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 |
| | Grøn Omstilling | 233 | 0.08 | 0 | New |
| | Det Demokratiske Parti | 144 | 0.05 | 0 | New |
| | Copenhagen | 76 | 0.02 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 307,190 | 100.00 | 55 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 307,190 | 98.24 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 970 | 0.31 | | |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | 4,531 | 1.45 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 312,691 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 521,387 | 59.97 | | |
| Source: KMD ||||||
