Greenland elects on national level a
legislature. The
Greenlandic Parliament (''Inatsisartut in
Greenlandic'') has 31 members of parliament, elected for a four-year term by
proportional representation.
[''Greenland Country Profile'' ]
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) ElectioGuide Greenland has a
multi-party system (disputing on independence and unionism as well as left and right), with numerous
parties in which a single party normally does not have a chance of gaining power alone, and therefore the
parties must work together in order to form a
coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
.
Greenland has held parliamentary elections since 1979 when the Home-Rule act came into force. when this happened the islands were broken off into eight constituencies: Central Greenland, South Greenland, North Greenland, Ittoqqortoormiit, Qaanaaq, Tasiilaq, Upernavik and Uumannaq. However, in 1998, they were all remerged back into one constituency due to a want to consider Greenland's interests as a whole, instead of the regional interests.
Due to the number of seats in Greenland's parliament it takes a minimum of sixteen years to form a majority government. Also, terms can be cut short if a government finds a majority against it or if the sitting prime minister decides to call one, and this is fairly normal. For example, an election came unexpectedly in April 2021, as the administration that had been running since 2014 by Kim Kielsen of the Siumut Party, due to the withdrawal of one of its coalition partners, Demokraait.
[Explainer: The Greenland Parliamentary Elections- 2021, 2021]
One of the major debates in Greenland politics is whether to unionise or be independent. This debate divides parties and politicians between two poles. Greenland is currently one of two autonomous territories of the Kingdom of Denmark. This means that Greenland is a part of Denmark's international territory that has a degree of autonomy and self-governance under a national government. Some politicians in Greenland want to become fully independent from Denmark and stand under the independence side of Greenland's politics. On the other hand, some politicians want to keep a strong union with Denmark and remain an autonomous territory.
Latest elections
General elections
Local elections
Danish elections
See also
*
Electoral calendar
*
Electoral system
References
External links
Election results from 2002-present (in English)Adam Carr's Election ArchiveElectoral politics, party performance, and governance in Greenland: Parties, personalities, and cleavages in an autonomous subnational island jurisdiction
{{Greenland topics