Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen suffered an election setback as her left-leaning bloc appeared to have fallen short of winning enough votes to form a government, following a campaign clouded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland.
Frederiksen’s Social Democrats received the most votes and were seen winning 38 seats in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament, results published early Wednesday showed, compared with 50 seats four years earlier.
The left-leaning grouping, or “red bloc,” was seen taking 84 seats, six short of the 90 required for a majority, while the right-leaning group, or “blue bloc,” secured 77 seats.
The election outcome sets the stage for tough coalition talks over the coming weeks, with Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s center-right Moderates, which won 14 seats, seen emerging as a kingmaker.
Denmark’s Frederiksen told supporters in Copenhagen that forming a government would be “difficult” and sought to downplay the decline in her party’s popularity after several external shocks.
