Greenland gamble leaves weakened Frederiksen poised for third term

COPENHAGEN – Mette Frederiksen’s decision to call a snap election in the wake of tensions over Greenland has delivered the Social Democrats their weakest result in more than a century, but still left her positioned for a third term as Denmark’s prime minister.

With 12 parties entering parliament and only three winning more than 10% of the vote, the election produced a highly fragmented legislature with no clear route to a governing majority.

Neither the left nor right blocs secured sufficient support to form a government, leaving Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his centrist Moderates in a pivotal role.

“Denmark is becoming more and more like the Netherlands,” said Benny Engelbrecht, a Social Democratic MP and former minister. The centre-left party topped the poll with about 22% of the vote – its weakest performance since 1904 – but still almost twice the size of the second-placed Greens.

“I remain ready to take on the responsibility of serving as the…