Kristian Thulesen Dahl (born 30 July 1969) is a Danish director and former politician who served as Leader of the

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party ( da, Dansk Folkeparti, DPP/DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The DPP lent its support to the Venstre– C ...

(DPP) from 2012 to 2022. He was a

Member of the Folketing In Denmark, Members of Parliament sit in the Folketing. The title is almost always shortened to the initialism "MF". Since the general election on 22 September 1953, which was the first under the Constitution of 1953, there have been 179 membe ...

(MF) from September 1994 until July 2022, first representing Fremskridtspartiet until 6 October 1995 and then the DPP from that date until 29 June 2022,. when he became an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. He became leader of the

in 2012, following

Pia Kjærsgaard Pia Merete Kjærsgaard (; born 23 February 1947) is a Danish politician who was Speaker of the Danish Parliament from 2015 to 2019, and former leader of the Danish People's Party. She is a co-founder of the Danish People's Party, and led the ...

's retirement from the post. He is a

Knight of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

. Kristian Thulesen Dahl is also the brother of fellow MF Jens Henrik Thulesen Dahl.

Political career

Thulesen Dahl's first period in parliament was as a temporary member from 7 October 1993 to 24 October 1993. Following this he ran in the

1994 Danish general election General elections were held in Denmark on 21 September 1994.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p525 The coalition of the Social Democratic Party, the Danish Social Liberal Party and the Centre Democr ...

for the Progress Party. He was elected into parliament, but switched to the Danish People's Party during the term, on 6 October 1995. Thuelsen Dahl also entered the municipal council of

Give Municipality Until 1 January 2007 Give municipality was a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Vejle County on the Jutland peninsula in southeast Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 403 km2, and had a total population of 14,090 (2005). Its la ...

from 1997 to 2006, and Vejle Municipality from 2006 to 2010. In 2012, after Pia Kjærsgaard's resignment, he was elected chairman of the Danish People's Party. In 2014, a poll of Danish right wing voters showed that Thulesen Dahl was more popular as a possible candidate for

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 ...

than any other leader of the Danish right wing parties, including current Prime Minister

Lars Løkke Rasmussen Lars Løkke Rasmussen (; born 15 May 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as the 25th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was the lead ...

. He, however, did not consider himself a candidate for that post. In the

2015 Danish general election General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Nor ...

s, Thulesen's first election as party leader, his party won 37 of 179 seats in parliament becoming the second largest party. Thulesen Dahl received more than 57,000 personal votes. While his party became the largest in the right wing bloc, and he was much more popular than Venstre's candidate for Prime Minister,

, he refused that he was in play as a possible Prime Minister of Denmark. Thulesen did not stand in the

2022 Danish general election General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 1 November 2022, except in the Faroe Islands, where they were held on 31 October as 1 November was a national day of mourning for victims at sea. Of the 179 members of the Folketing, 175 w ...

as he had gotten a job as the director of the

port of Aalborg The Danish company Port of Aalborg A/S (formerly Aalborg Havn A/S), headquartered in the East Port in Aalborg, is one of largest commercial ports in Denmark. Port of Aalborg is an inter-model inland port providing logistics solutions by water, ...

, his first job outside politics in 28 years.

Positions

In 2013, Thulesen Dahl argued that Denmark to a larger extent should accept more refugees coming from non-

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

countries and fewer from Muslim countries. In the same interview, he declared himself a supporter of freedom of religion, thus a Dane who wishes to convert to Islam is free to do so, however, he also stated that he believes that there is no room in Denmark for more people with a Muslim background.

Honours and decorations

Order of the Dannebrog, Knight 1st Class

References

External links