General elections were held in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

on 2 June 2009.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Hans Enoksen Hans Enoksen (born 7 August 1956) is a Greenlandic politician who served as the third prime minister of Greenland from 2002 to 2009. A Greenlandic monoglot, he has been a member of the Parliament of Greenland since 1995. He became Minister for F ...

announced the election date on 15 April 2009, stating that he would prefer for a newly elected parliament to administer Greenland when the self-government reform took effect on 21 June 2009. The reform gave more power to the Greenlandic parliament with decisions on most issues being devolved to the parliament but defence and foreign affairs remaining under the control of Denmark.

Results

The pro-independence, left-wing opposition party,

Inuit Ataqatigiit Inuit Ataqatigiit (, , da, Folkets Samfund) is a democratic socialist, separatist political party in Greenland that aims to make Greenland an independent state. The party, founded as a political organisation in 1976, was born out of the increas ...

led by

Kuupik Kleist Jakob Edvard Kuupik Kleist (born 31 March 1958) is a Greenlandic politician who served as the fourth prime minister of Greenland between 2009 and 2013. A member of the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, he was the first Prime Minister not affiliated with S ...

emerged as the largest party with 43.7% of the vote. Kleist set a new record for most votes in a Greenlandic election with 5,461 received. This compares with Akitsinnguaq Olsen who was elected with just 112 votes. The governing

Siumut Siumut (, ) is a political party in Greenland in the social democratic tradition. Since the establishment of home rule in 1979, it has been the dominant party in Greenland. Siumut is led by Erik Jensen, who beat the then-incumbent Prime Ministe ...

led by Prime Minister Hans Enoksen received 26.5% of the vote and lost control of the government for the first time in 30 years. Former Siumut leader and Prime Minister

Jonathan Motzfeldt Jonathan Jakob Jørgen Otto Motzfeldt (25 September 1938 – 28 October 2010) was a Greenlandic priest and politician. He is considered one of the leading figures in the establishment of Greenland Home Rule. Jonathan Motzfeldt was the first pr ...

failed to be re-elected for the first time since 1971, receiving just 91 votes . Enoksen stated that he would step down as party leader, a position he had held since 2002, if his colleagues wished him to. Siumut was believed to have lost votes over a series of scandals, including one over expenses, and concerns over its ability to manage with greater autonomy. The newly formed Sorlaat Partiiat gained just 383 votes in the election and dissolved shortly afterwards. The party stood on a platform of huge spending reductions and opposed Greenland rejoining the EU.

Aftermath

Siumut was considered likely to be left out of government as both the Inuit Ataqatigiit and Demokraatit parties ruled out the possibility of working with them. Siumut's former coalition partner, Atassut, gained too few seats to make a new coalition powerful enough to challenge for the government. On 7 June 2009, Inuit Ataqatigiit announced that it would form a coalition with the Democrats and the Association of Candidates.

References

{{Greenlandic elections

Elections in Greenland 2009 in Greenland