Copenhagen---Denmark's anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP) on Friday mulled whether to join the Nordic country's next government after posting a record election score, making it the second-largest party in parliament.
Lars Lokke Rasmussen of the centre-right Venstre party is expected to head a new coalition government to replace outgoing Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, after winning Thursday's election.
But he will face tough negotiations with the DPP after its support jumped to 21.1 percent from 12.3 in the previous election.
The result made the DPP Denmark's second largest party -- even bigger than Venstre -- but whether it would actually join a coalition was unclear.
A string of minor but highly publicised spending scandals eroded support for Rasmussen, whose party -- until now Denmark's main opposition party -- dropped to 19.5 percent, losing more than a quarter of votes from the last election.
"Venstre did not get the election we dreamed of, but we got the opportunity to head a government that can harness the economic upswing and let it gain traction in all of Denmark," he wrote on Facebook.
"That opportunity will be explored in the coming days. Difficult negotiations await."
Thorning-Schmidt tendered her resignation to Queen Margrethe at midday Friday without speaking to journalists as she left the Amalienborg Palace.
While her Social Democratic Party won the most votes, the centre-left bloc did not retain enough seats to stay in power.
Rasmussen was expected to visit the queen later Friday to formally be tasked with forming the new government.
Coalition talks would most likely begin on Saturday, a well-informed source said.
- Seeking influence -
Throughout the campaign the DPP had shrugged the idea of going into government.
From 2001 to 2011 it backed right-wing governments in return for support on its key policy demand: tighter migration rules.
Some analysts believe that the party could lose its anti-establishment appeal if it enters a coalition.
Morten Messerschmidt, a DPP member of the European parliament, said the choice came down to either "committing to a policy for the next four years and then be allowed to sit (there) and administer it," or being in a position where a Rasmussen-led government would have to "ask us every time they want to do something."
"The latter immediately sounds more appealing," he told public broadcaster DR.
Getting the DPP into the fold is in Rasmussen's best interest, said Roger Buch, head of research at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus.
Otherwise he faces "having to go to 'big brother DPP' in front of rolling cameras every time something needs to be negotiated," he told the national Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
AFP
