Christian Democrats (Denmark)

Christian Democrats Kristendemokraterne
Chairman	Stig Grenov
Founded	13 April 1970
Headquarters	Vermlandsgade 51 2300 København S
Youth wing	KDup
Ideology	Christian democracy Regionalism
Political position	Centre to Centre-right
European affiliation	European People's Party
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International
European Parliament group	No MEPs
Colours	Orange
Folketing	0 / 179
European Parliament	0 / 13
Municipal councils	6 / 2,444
Election symbol
K
Website
www.kd.dk
Politics of Denmark Political parties Elections

The Christian Democrats (Danish: Kristendemokraterne) are a political party in Denmark. The party was founded in 1970 to oppose the liberalization of restrictions on pornography and the legalization of abortion.^[1][2] It was known as the Christian People's Party (Kristeligt Folkeparti) from April 1970 to 2003.^[3] Originally, the party was not considered part of the European Christian democratic tradition, and it was better known as a religious conservative party.^[4]

The Christian Democrats are a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and the Centrist Democrat International.

History

It was formed in 1970.^[5] Since its inception, the party has enjoyed an intermittent presence in the Parliament of Denmark, rarely winning much more than the two percent minimum required to gain seats under Denmark's proportional representation system, and frequently falling below the threshold, as happened most recently in the 2011 and 2015 parliamentary elections. Despite its small size, the party has served in a number of coalition governments. From 1982 to 1988, it was in coalition with the Liberal Party and Conservative People's Party; from 1993 to 1994, it served in government with the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals and the Centre Democrats.^[2]

From 2002 to 2005, the party was led by Marianne Karlsmose. The name of the party was changed to the Christian Democrats in 2003. In October 2005, the party elected Bodil Kornbek as its new chairman.^[6] Her attempt to introduce a more secular centre-left profile had some success in the beginning, but in the 2007 and 2011 parliamentary elections, the party received no seats. In October 2008, Kornbek was replaced by Bjarne Hartung Kirkegaard, who represents its more rightist and religious wing.

In 2010, the Christian Democrats regained parliamentary representation when the former Conservative People's Party member Per Ørum Jørgensen joined the party. Since he was not formerly known for having expressed particularly religion-based opinions, these events once more softened the religious character of the party.

On 30 June 2011, it was announced that the Christian Democrats had started cooperating with the grassroot party Fælleslisten, a single-issue party fighting for decentralization, especially in health policy, with some success in regional and local elections. This means that candidates from the two parties appeared on a joint list at the 2011 Danish parliamentary election. The Christian Democrats had themselves taken a somewhat regionalist stance at a moment when Fælleslisten had surged in opinion polls.

In September 2012, Per Ørum Jørgensen resigned and subsequently left the party altogether in order to form a new party called Democratic Party. A new chairman, Egon Jakobsen, was appointed ad interim. On 27 October 2012, the former deputy chairman Stig Grenov was elected as new chairman.

Christian Democratic Politicians

Party chairman

• Jacob Christensen: 1970 - 1973
• Jens Møller: 1973 - 1979
• Flemming Kofod-Svendsen: 1979 - 1990
• Jann Sjursen: 1990 - 2002
• Marianne Karlsmose: 2002 - 2005
• Bodil Kornbek: 2005 - 2008
• Bjarne Hartung Kirkegaard: 2008 - 2011
• Per Ørum Jørgensen: 2011 - 2012
• Egon Jakobsen: 2012 (a.i.)
• Stig Grenov: From 2012

Chairman of Young Christian Democrats

• Kristian S. Larsen and Andreas Müller: 2010-2011
• Kristian S. Larsen and Aron Henning: 2011-2012
• Aron Henning, Peter Bjerre and Christian Medom Jensen: 2012-2013
• Isabella Arendt Laursen: 2013-2016
• Jacob Hellwing: From 2016

Ministers

• Christian Christensen: Minister for the Environment and Nordic Cooperation (1982–88).
• Flemming Kofod-Svendsen: Minister for Housing (1987–88). Minister for Housing, Nordic Cooperation and Baltic Sea Questions (1993-1994).
• Jann Sjursen: Minister of Energy (1993-1994).

Deputy Mayors

• Jens Ove Kjeldsen: Former Deputy mayor in Herning Municipality.
• Kristian Andersen: Deputy mayor in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality.
• Fridtjof Stidsen: 2nd Deputy mayor in Hedensted Municipality.

Election results

Parliament (Folketing)

Date	Votes			Seats
	#	%	± pp	#	±
1971	57.072	1.9%	+1.9	0 / 179	New
1973	123.573	4.0%	+2.1	7 / 179	7
1975	162.734	5.3%	+1.3	9 / 179	2
1977	106.082	3.4%	-1.9	6 / 179	3
1979	82.133	2.6%	-0.8	5 / 179	1
1981	72.174	2.3%	-0.3	4 / 179	1
1984	91.623	2.7%	+0.4	5 / 179	1
1987	79.664	2.4%	-0.3	4 / 179	1
1988	68.047	2.0%	-0.4	4 / 179	0
1990	74.174	2.3%	+0.3	4 / 179	0
1994	61.507	1.9%	-0.4	0 / 179	4
1998	85.656	2.5%	+0.6	4 / 179	4
2001	78.793	2.3%	-0.2	4 / 179	0
2005	58.071	1.7%	-0.6	0 / 179	4
2007	30.013	0.9%	-0.8	0 / 179	0
2011	28.070	0.8%	-0.1	0 / 179	0
2015	29.077	0.8%	0.0	0 / 179	0

Municipal elections

Date	Seats
	#	±
1974	37 / 4,735	New
1978	28 / 4,759	9
1981	27 / 4,769	1
1985	33 / 4,773	6
1989	45 / 4,737	12
1993	32 / 4,703	13
1997	30 / 4,685	2
2001	31 / 4,647	1
2005	15 / 2,522	16
2009	6 / 2,468	9
2013	6 / 2,444	0

Amt & Regional elections

Date	Votes	Seats
		#	±
1974	71.787	9 / 370	New
1978	52.201	5 / 370	4
1981	46.425	6 / 370	1
1985	47.847	6 / 374	0
1989	49,084	7 / 374	1
1993	44,938	5 / 374	2
1997	44,154	2 / 374	3
2001	55,683	4 / 374	2
2005	47,862	2 / 205	2
2009	23,170	0 / 205	2
2013	25,281	0 / 205	0

European Parliament elections

Date	Votes			Seats
	#	%	± pp	#	±
1979	30.985	1.8%	+1.8	0 / 15	New
1984	54.624	2.7%	+2.7	0 / 15	0
1989	47.768	2.7%	0.0	0 / 16	0
1994	22.986	1.1%	-1.6	0 / 16	0
1999	39.128	2.0%	+0.9	0 / 16	0
2004	24.286	1.3%	-0.7	0 / 14	0
2009-2014	Did not run.

Further reading

• Madeley, John T.S. (2004). Steven Van Hecke; Emmanuel Gerard, eds. Life at the Northern Margin: Christian Democracy in Scandinavia. Christian Democratic Parties in Europe Since the End of the Cold War. Leuven University Press. pp. 217–241. ISBN 90-5867-377-4.

References

1. Isabelle Engeli; Christoffer Green-Pedersen; Lars Thorup Larsen (7 August 2012). Morality Politics in Western Europe: Parties, Agendas and Policy Choices. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-230-30933-3.
2. Åsa Bengtsson; Kasper Hansen; Ólafur Þ Harõarson; Hanne Marthe Narud; Henrik Oscarsson (15 November 2013). The Nordic Voter: Myths of Exceptionalism. ECPR Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-907301-50-6.
3. André Krouwel (1 December 2012). Party Transformations in European Democracies. SUNY Press. p. 298. ISBN 978-1-4384-4481-9.
4. Cook, Chris; Francis, Mary (1979). The first European elections: A handbook and guide. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333-26575-0.
5. Western Europe 2003. Psychology Press. 30 November 2002. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-85743-152-0. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
6. Ritzau (31 October 2005). "Bodil Kornbek ny formand for Kristendemokraterne". Information. Dagbladet Information. Retrieved 24 November 2016.

External links

• Official website in Danish