General elections were held in Greenland on 12 March 2013.Mining question dominates Greenland poll
BBC News, 12 March 2013 The opposition Siumut party emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 14 of the 31 seats.Mining proponents win Greenland election
AP, 13 March 2013 On 26 March Siumut leader

Aleqa Hammond Aleqa Hammond (born 23 September 1965) is a Greenlandic politician and former member of the Danish Folketing (parliament). Formerly the leader of the Siumut party, she became Greenland's first female prime minister after her party emerged as the l ...

became Greenland's first female Prime Minister.

Electoral system

The 31 members of Parliament were elected by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. In Nuuk there was just one polling station.

Campaign

The main campaign issue was exploitation of the island's mineral wealth. The ruling Inuit Ataqatigiit party supported allowing foreign workers, most of whom would be

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

, into the country to work in the mining industry, whilst the Siumut party was opposed to the proposal. Rare-earth elements were of particular concern.

Results

Government formation

Following the election results, Siumut leader Aleqa Hammond claimed that she was "in no hurry to form a coalition" and would wait to hear the demands of the other parties.Greenland votes for change
Nunatsiaq Online, 13 March 2013 Hammond ultimately formed a government with Atassut and the

Inuit Party The Inuit Party ( kl, Partii Inuit, ) was a separatist party in Greenland, formed by dissidents from the then-governing Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA). The party was opposed to the so-called big-scale law, and wanted a referendum on the law. Mette Lynge ...

. Siumut took six of the eight cabinet posts, with Solidarity taking the Health and Infrastructure portfolio and the Inuit Party taking the Environment portfolio.

References

2013 elections in North America 2013 parliamentary 2013 in Greenland March 2013 events in North America {{NorthAm-election-stub