Greenland had a message for Donald Trump as islanders went to the polls this week: thanks, but no thanks.
The U.S. president’s repeated noises about acquiring the vast Arctic island — not ruling out military force or economic coercion — were rejected at the ballot box, as a party that denounced Trump’s ambitions came out on top.
The opposition center-right Democrats party grabbed the most votes in a surprising national election result that saw the country’s governing coalition parties (the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit and center-left Siumut) edged out into third and fourth place, on a total of 28,000 votes cast (70 percent turnout).
Pro-business Jens-Frederik Nielsen — who has said Trump’s rhetoric is a “a threat to our political independence” — led the Democrats to victory with nearly 30 percent of the vote, while the pro-independence Naleraq trailed just behind on 24.5 percent. Greenland’s most pro-American party, Qulleq, didn’t gain enough votes for a seat in the parliament.
Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), told POLITICO that the results signal a resounding no to Trump’s wishes to take over the semi-autonomous island, which has been part of the Danish commonwealth since 1953 and was a colony before that. Trump has said that taking over Greenland — which has deposits of critical minerals and occupies a strategic location in the Arctic — was a vital national security priority for the White House.
“Trump’s embrace has been rejected, but the challenge now is to channel international interest into economic cooperation. In this regard, the EU could potentially play a role,” Gad said.
Democrats chief Nielsen called the result “historic,” telling reporters that “we had not expected that the election would have this outcome.”
As the Democrats now bid to form a coalition government, Greenland will look to turn newfound global interest into opportunities for investment and economic development.
Coalition collision
While a majority of Greenlanders want independence from Denmark, that’s never been easy to precisely define.
“We want independence, but we all have very different definitions of what independence is,” editor-in-chief of Greenland’s main newspaper Sermitsiaq, Masaana Egede, told POLITICO before the election.
Whether Greenland can economically go it alone, however, is the big question. The Arctic island is home to one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium and rare-earth minerals, but its lawmakers have opposed EU-backed mining projects before and have passed a law outright banning most uranium extraction.
“The focus [for the new government] will remain on developing the economy toward independence, but with a stronger emphasis on market-based solutions. Greenland will continue to push Denmark for greater equality, though it may also be more open to Danish investments,” Gad told POLITICO.
“Demokraatit [the Democrats] have opposed the uranium ban imposed by the previous government. It is too early to say whether they will attempt to reverse it, as this will likely depend on which party they form a coalition with,” said Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen, professor and expert on Arctic security at the Danish Royal Defense College. “The most obvious coalition partner, IA [Inuit Ataqatigiit, the party of Prime Minister Múte Egede], opposes uranium mining, which could become a potential sticking point.”
Nielsen and the Democrats’ goal is to make Greenland more self-sufficient through its economy before any formal separation from Denmark, but second-place Naleraq is the most outspoken party in favor of an aggressive independence push, which threatens to make those potential talks tricky.
The winning party now has two options: the Naleraq route; or a coalition with IA, despite differences over tax reforms, welfare and mining.
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