The Alternative ( da, Alternativet) is a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

political party in Denmark This article lists political party, political parties in Denmark.:da:Politiske partier i Danmark, da Denmark has a multi-party system, with two or three major parties complemented by several other significant parties. The government typically con ...

. The party was publicly launched on 27 November 2013 by former

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizatio ...

Uffe Elbæk Uffe Elbæk (born 15 June 1954) is a Danish politician, social worker, author, journalist, entrepreneur. In 2013 he founded the green political party The Alternative, which he led until February 2020. He is an independent member of the Folketin ...

and

Josephine Fock Josephine Fock (born 5 September 1965) is a Danish politician, who was a member of the Folketing for The Alternative from 2015 to 2018. She was the leader of the party from 1 February to 14 November 2020 after Uffe Elbæk resigned. Political ca ...

; Elbæk had been a parliamentarian for the Social Liberal Party. Elbæk was the leader of the party until February 2020, where he stepped down and was succeeded by Fock. Currently the party is led by

Franciska Rosenkilde Franciska Rosenkilde (born 19 March 1976) is a Danish geographer and politician who has been the leader of The Alternative (Denmark), The Alternative since February 2021, replacing Josephine Fock. Alongside five other members of The Alternative, R ...

. It collaborates with

DiEM25 The Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, or DiEM25, is a pan-European political movement founded in 2016 by a group of Europeans, including former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and Croatian philosopher Srećko Horvat. The movement was o ...

at the European level.

History

Founding

The Alternative was launched on 27 November 2013 by

and

, at a press conference at Christiansborg, the seat of the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature ( parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

, the Danish parliament. Other founders include Niko Grüfeld,

Torsten Gejl Torsten Gejl (born 30 January 1964, in Aarhus) is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for The Alternative political party. He was elected into parliament at the 2015 Danish general election. He is currently the group leader of ...

, and

Rasmus Nordqvist Rasmus Nordqvist (born 18 July 1975 in Copenhagen) is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Socialist People's Party. He was elected into parliament in the 2015 Danish general election as a member of The Alternative, but ...

. The Alternative supported

Helle Thorning-Schmidt Helle Thorning-Schmidt (; born 14 December 1966) is a Danish retired politician who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015, and Leader of the Social Democrats from 2005 to 2015. She is the first woman to have held each ...

, the incumbent prime minister from the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

, but considered itself both left- and right-wing. The party emphasized the wish for a new political culture, serious

climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels bu ...

, and entrepreneurship. It did not have a full political agenda, but would instead develop it in "political laboratories" in cooperation with the Danish people. The new party had been planned for two months; Elbæk left the Social Liberal Party on 17 September 2013. The party's name was approved by the Danish Electoral Commission under the Ministry of Economy and the Interior, taking effect on 18 December 2013. At the beginning of 2015 the party worked on gathering the 20,260 signatures required to run for Parliament, which it succeeded in doing on 23 February 2015. The party aims to

crowdsource Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...

policies through what it calls "political laboratories". The party obtained

ballot access Elections in the United States refers to the rules and procedures regulating the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots. As the nation's election process is decentralized b ...

for the 2015 general election with the letter Å on the electoral lists on 13 March 2015.

2015 election

In the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

on 18 June 2015, The Alternative received 4.8% of the vote, electing nine MPs and making it the sixth-largest party in the Folketing. In a famous interview on election night, Elbæk tried to speak, but instead ended up saying " … man, this is crazy!" The party supported the re-election of

Social Democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

leader

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 ...

. The party was part of the opposition to the third government of Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

2019 election

In the 2019 general election, The Alternative decided to support their own leader,

, for Prime Minister rather than support the Social Democrat leader, as they had done in 2015, due to what they called insufficient ambition in plans to deal with climate change. They party won a reduced five seats and went into opposition after Social Democrat leader

Mette Frederiksen Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been Prime Minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Leader of the Social Democrats since June 2015. The second woman to hold either office, she is also the youngest prime ...

became Prime Minister.

2020 leadership crisis

In December 2019, Elbæk announced that he would stand down as political leader of The Alternative. There were six candidates to succeed him, including

and

Theresa Scavenius Theresa Birgitta Brønnum Scavenius (born 26 July 1984) is Danish politician. She is an associate professor at Aalborg University Copenhagen with climate politics as her research area. She is a member of the green political party The Alternative ...

. Only Nordqvist was member of the Folketing, and all five members of the Folketing, including Elbæk, supported him. On an extraordinary congress on 1 February 2020, Josephine Fock was elected as the new political leader. Nordqvist subsequently resigned as political spokesperson, and was replaced by

. Three weeks later, ''

Information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random, ...

'' published an article where anonymous sources accused Fock of verbally abusing and in some cases physically shaking party members and employees while she was a member of the Folketing from 2015 to 2018, during which she was temporarily leader of the parliamentary group. Fock said she did not recognize the descriptions of her, and categorically denied the accusations of shaking people, but said she was not "the best version of herself" in that period. After a meeting with Fock, the central board said they had full confidence in her, while inviting the anonymous sources to contact the central board. Magnus Haslebo, a former press officer in the Folketing, and

Fanny Broholm Fanny may refer to: Given name * Fanny (name), a feminine given name or a nickname, often for Frances In slang * A term for the vulva, in Britain and many other parts of the English-speaking world * A term for the buttocks, in the United States ...

, leader of the party's group on the

Copenhagen city council The Copenhagen City Council (Danish: ) is the municipal government of Copenhagen, Denmark, and has its seat at Copenhagen City Hall. The city council is Copenhagen's highest political authority and sets the framework for the committees' task ...

, publicly supported the accusations of aggressive behavior, with Haslebo saying he had also heard rumors about the shaking. On 28 February,

Niko Grünfeld Niko Grünfeld (born March 13, 1975, in Sønderborg) is a Danish politician. He served as Mayor of Culture and Leisure to the Copenhagen Municipality from January to October 2018 for The Alternative political party, which he co-founded in 2013. ...

, co-founder and former mayor in Copenhagen, left the party, saying that "the party's soul has been eaten away from within". After Elbæk said he would tell the central board what he knew, the central board said their support for Fock were only provisional, with more talks to be held. On 7 March, a slim majority in the central board gave Fock their support, with ten voting for and seven against. Following the decision, the party's local branch in Elbæk's constituency demanded that he publicly express full support of Fock, or they would withdraw their support of Elbæk. On 9 March, Uffe Elbæk left the party, saying he "no longer recognized" the party he founded. He was followed by three other member of the Folketing: Rasmus Nordqvist,

Susanne Zimmer Susanne Zimmer (born 9 June 1960 in Brønderslev) is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing. She was elected in the 2019 Danish general election as a member of The Alternative. She is the co-founder of Independent Greens, though i ...

, and

Sikandar Siddique Sikandar Siddique (born 4 October 1986 in Copenhagen) is a Danish politician who was a member of the Folketing from 2019 to 2022. He was elected in the 2019 Danish general election as a member of The Alternative. He is the co-founder and leader o ...

. The fifth and last member of the Folketing, Torsten Gejl, decided to stay after some days of thought. Nordqvist subsequently joined the Socialist People's Party. Political analysts called the departures the death of The Alternative. In her reactions, Fock said she was saddened by the departures, but that it was a "new beginning" for The Alternative. Elbæk, Siddique and Zimmer would later form a new political party, the Independent Greens, with Siddique as leader. On 14 November 2020, Fock stepped down as leader of The Alternative. On 7 February 2021, the party announced that Mayor of Culture and Leisure in Copenhagen

as their new leader. Ahead of 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 we ...

offered the Independent Greens and The Vegan Party a chance to form a united list to increase the chances of

representation in the Folketing, as all three parties were polling below the threshold. Siddique dismissed the plan. Elbæk later called for the Independent Greens and Alternative to merge, and eventually rejoined the old party, reducing the number of sitting FG MPs to two. In the general election of 1. November 2022, the Alternative received 3.3% of the vote, up from 3.0% in 2019, securing 6 mandates in the

Parliamentary representation

2015

The members of Parliament from 2015 and their spokesperson assignments: *

: Leader of the Alternative *

: Political group leader of the Alternative. Spokeswoman for finance and economy, employment policy, constitution and legal policy *

: Political Spokesman for the Alternative. Spokesman for Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Entrepreneurship, Ethical Consumerism, Business, Trade, Art, and Culture * René Gade: Spokesman for Defense, Taxes, and Digital Constitutional Rights. *

: Spokesman for Domestic Policy, Pattern Breaking and Social Affairs *

Roger Matthisen Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages, Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", " ...

: Spokesman for Cities and Residences, Rural Districts, Islands, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland *

Ulla Sandbæk Ulla Margrethe Sandbæk (born 1943) is a former Danish Member of the European Parliament for the June Movement. She served from 1994 to 2004. She was responsible for the Sandbæk report that resulted in a European Union regulation increasing ...

: Spokesman for Ecclesiastical Affairs, Naturalisation, Integration and Development *

Carolina Magdalene Maier Carolina may refer to: Geography * The Carolinas, the U.S. states of North and South Carolina ** North Carolina, a U.S. state ** South Carolina, a U.S. state * Province of Carolina, a British province until 1712 * Carolina, Alabama, a town in th ...

: Spokesman for Health, Psychiatry, Equal Rights, Youth, Family, Senior Citizens, Education, Research, Schools, and Youth Education Programs *

Christian Poll Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

: Spokesman for Environment, Climate, Energy, Agriculture, Animal Welfare, Fisheries, Food, and Transport

2019

The following members were elected to the Folketing in 2019 * Uffe Elbæk (left the party in March 2020) * Torsten Gejl * Rasmus Nordqvist (left the party in March 2020) *

(left the party in March 2020) *

(left the party in March 2020)

2022

The following members were elected in 2022., , , , *

: Political leader *

: Political spokesperson *

Helene Liliendahl Brydensholt Helene Liliendahl Brydensholt (born 8 August 1987) is a Denmark, Danish politician and Member of the Folketing, member of the Folketing, the national legislature. A member of The Alternative (Denmark), The Alternative party, she has represented N ...

Sascha Faxe Sascha Faxe (born 4 August 1971) is a Danish politician who has served as Member of the Folketing for The Alternative since the 2022 election. Career Despite standing and receiving 1,192 votes in the 2019 election, Faxe was not elected and r ...

Christina Olumeko Christina Sade Olumeko (born 26 November 1996) is a Danish politician and member of the Folketing, the national legislature. A member of The Alternative party, she has represented Copenhagen since November 2022. Olumeko was born on 26 November ...

Election results

Parliament

Local elections

European Parliament

References

External links

Official site in Danish and English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alternative Political parties established in 2013 2013 establishments in Denmark Green political parties in Denmark Political parties in Denmark Progressive parties Pro-European political parties in Denmark