Denmark set for change of political direction under female premier

Danish voters appeared set to elect their first female prime minister and end 10 years of pro-market reforms and a hardening of immigration laws.

Separate exit polls released by broadcasters TV2 and DR with two hours of voting remaining predicted a majority in the 179-seat parliament for the left-leaning opposition led by Social Democratic leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Both showed her “red bloc” with a seven-seat advantage over the centre-right government coalition led by Lars Loekke Rasmussen, though the DR exit poll did not count the four seats allocated to the semi-autonomous territories of Greenland and the Faeroe Islands.

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If Thorning-Schmidt does become the first woman to head a Danish government it will stem the influence of the current government’s anti-immigration ally, the Danish People’s Party.

“Now we have the opportunity to change Denmark and get a new majority. We must grab this opportunity,” Thorning-Schmidt, 44, told reporters.

She is married to Stephen Kinnock, the son of former British Labour party leader Neil Kinnock.

For the past decade, the government has relied on the backing of the anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party, enacting reforms to make Denmark more business friendly and less welcoming to asylum-seekers.

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In consensus-oriented Denmark, there is broad agreement on having a robust welfare system financed by high taxes, but the government and the opposition differ on the depth of austerity measures needed to survive Europe’s debt crisis.

Thorning-Schmidt wants to dodge some of the government’s welfare cuts and raise taxes on banks and the wealthy.

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