Danes head to polls amid uncertain elections

LONDON

Denmark's polling stations opened on Tuesday in what is expected to be a tight race as new parties hope to acquire seats in the country's parliament.

The latest polls ahead of the early elections -- launched in the wake of a scandal over the slaughter of the country's mink population in 2020 -- suggest that the left-wing "red bloc" led by premier Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats -- has the support of 47.1%-49.1%.

Their main opponents are the "blue bloc," made up of conservative parties, liberals, and three populist parties, which polls indicate will garner 40.9%-43.6% of the vote.

Frederiksen's call for the early general elections has been expected for months after opposition parties accused the prime minister of breaking the law with a decision to cull the country's 17-million mink population due to fears the coronavirus would spread in farms.

Neither the red nor the blue bloc is expected to win an outright majority, meaning that they will have to rely on a new centrist party, the Moderates, established by former liberal party leader and ex-Prime Minister Lars LokkeRasmussen, expected to receive 9.3%-10% of votes.

This campaigning season bucked recent trends as immigration was not the major focus, which has seemingly shifted towards the energy crisis, inflation, and food crisis amid the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as climate issues and health care.

In the previous elections of 2019, turnout was 84.6%, though polls suggest that this time, a quarter of voters are unsure of which side they support.

Voting began at 8 a.m. local time (0700GMT) and is set to last 12 hours. The initial results are expected at 9.30 p.m.