Campaign Invisible; That Suits Danes’ Leader

A national election with 16 parties campaigning for 179 parliamentary seats would probably be a lively and heated political contest anywhere but Denmark, but on the eve of today’s election a newspaper here observed, “The Campaign Has Disappeared.”

Even by the placid standards of politics in Denmark, where proportional representation has denied an outright majority to any party for more than half a century, this campaign has been all but invisible--in the newspapers and on television.

Conservative Prime Minister Poul Schlueter, who appears to be heading comfortably for a return to power at the head of a rightist coalition, was asked at a news conference what he thought had been most interesting in the election, and he quickly replied, “That it is so uninteresting.”

This undoubtedly suits Schlueter just fine. The most divisive issue in Danish politics for the last decade was disposed of 18 months ago in a national referendum called by Schlueter’s government when the Danes voted solidly to remain in the European Communities. If today’s vote follows public opinion poll forecasts, Schlueter will be the first conservative to be returned to power in Denmark since before World War II.

Less Popular Opposition

The Social Democrats, who dominated Danish politics for half a century until Schlueter formed his rightist coalition in 1982, seem to be growing less popular, with opinion polls indicating that they may skid by 5% of the vote down to only 26%.

However, the fragmentation of Danish politics is such that a strong showing by Schlueter and the conservatives will still leave in doubt exactly how a new rightist coalition is to be formed.

At present the government is what the Danes call a “four-leaf clover” consisting of the Conservatives, the Liberals, the Center Democrats and the Christian People’s Party. But it is a minority government, with only 77 of the 179 seats, and it has stayed in power because the parties of the left have been unable to get together to topple it or to form a coalition of their own.

Nine political parties are represented in the outgoing Parliament, or Folketing, as it is called. Today’s vote could increase this fragmentation by another party or two, or another grouping or two. Under Denmark’s complex system of proportional representation, 135 of the members are elected in 17 districts and the other 40 are divided among the parties that receive at least 2% of the vote but fail to win any seats in the districts.

This makes it impossible for any party ever to win an election outright, and it makes minority coalition governments the customary way of political life.