Dramatic and unexpected election results in Greenland saw long-governing legacy parties kicked out of power and more right-wing, pro-American politicians set to dominate parliament for the first time.
The provisional results for the Greenlandic elections held on Tuesday show a historic result not forecast by pollsters, with the longstanding political establishment parties punished and relegated to third and fourth positions, respectively.
The election comes amid intense discussion of Greenland’s potential independence domestically and global attention over U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated overtures to the country to become part of the United States. As things stand, Greenland is now a region of its former colonial master Denmark, and as well as being divided between left and right, its politics are also split into pro- and anti-independence camps.
The present Greenland government is a coalition of the largest party, the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit, and the second-largest, the centre-left Siumut. Both parties are pro-independence but not especially friendly to America and certainly not to Donald Trump. Voters punished both parties, which have dominated Greenland politics since the 1970s, yesterday, falling from 12 seats to five and from ten to four, respectively.
Should they leave power now, which seems all but certain, it would be the first time in Greenland’s modern history that it hasn’t been governed by either Inuit Ataqatigiit or Siumut.
Now, the largest party is the centre-right Democrats, with a vote share surging 21 points and seats increasing from three to ten. In second place are the centrist Naleraq, up 12.5 points and seats doubled from four to eight.
Between them, these two parties — also pro-independence — have enough to form a government and coalition negotiations will likely follow.
Importantly, Naleraq has positioned itself as the most pro-American party in Greenlandic politics. While there is no such thing as a pro-Donald Trump party, as such, Naleraq has made clear if it came to power, it would work closely with the United States as an independent, sovereign nation.
For President Trump, this election produces a Greenland government which will at least work constructively with him, rather than reject American overtures with contempt.
Indeed, Naleraq party leader Pele Broberg wrote an opinion piece in English for USNEWS the day before the vote, laying out in very clear terms what he foresees such a relationship would look like. While Broberg would likely end up a junior coalition partner and not Prime Minister in the coming Greenlandic government, under European political systems, junior coalition partners can enjoy outsized influence on government policy.
Broberg wrote on Monday that his party is the most enthusiastically pro-independence of all the factions in Greenland, having campaigned for a snap referendum to be called quickly, and that he believed his country could develop faster and to greater benefit of its own citizens without control from Europe.
Of President Trump, Broberg acknowledged the U.S. President’s interest in “mineral resources and possible oil and gas reserves” on the Arctic island of fewer than 60,000 people and said that Trump had been friendlier to the Greenlandic people than the Danish government or the European Union.
He wrote:
…The U.S. president has offered us security guarantees, financial support and, if desired, U.S. citizenship should we choose to sever ties with Denmark… No other leader in Denmark or the EU has expressed such strong support for Greenlandic independence.
Nevertheless, he said recent research in Greenland showed citizens didn’t want to achieve independence only to be swallowed into another country, and the path he foresaw was one of a close alliance with America. This could be a “free association status” with Washington like that of “by the Pacific island states of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau”, he said.
“We would get U.S. support and protection in return for military rights, without becoming a U.S. territory”, Broberg proposed.
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