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The Christian Democrats (, KD) are a political party in Denmark. The party was founded in April 1970 as the Christian People's Party (, KrF) to oppose the liberalization of restrictions on
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and the legalization of
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. The party renamed itself to its current name in 2003. Originally, the party was not considered part of the European
Christian-democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...
tradition, and it was better known as a
religious conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
party. The Christian Democrats are a member of the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
(EPP) and the
Centrist Democrat International The Centrist Democrat International (CDI; , IDC) is a political international inspired by the values of Christian democracy. Until 2001, it was known as the Christian Democrat International (CDI); before 1999, it was known as the Christian Demo ...
.


History

The party was formed in 1970. Since its inception, the party has enjoyed an intermittent presence in the
Parliament of Denmark The Folketing ( , ), 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 and Greenland. E ...
, rarely winning much more than the two percent minimum required to gain seats under Denmark's
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
system, and frequently falling below the threshold, as has happened in every election from the 2005 parliamentary election onwards. Despite its small size, the party has served in a number of coalition governments. From 1982 to 1988, it was in coalition with the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
, Conservative People's Party and Centre Democrats; from 1993 to 1994, it served in government with the
Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
, the
Social Liberals Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...
and the Centre Democrats. From 2002 to 2005, the party was led by Marianne Karlsmose. The name of the party was changed to the Christian Democrats in 2003. In October 2005, the party elected Bodil Kornbek as its new chairman. Her attempt to introduce a more secular centre-left profile had some success in the beginning, but the party once again failed to win seats in the 2007 elections. In October 2008, Kornbek was replaced by Bjarne Hartung Kirkegaard from its more conservative and religious wing. In 2010, the Christian Democrats regained parliamentary representation when the
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former Conservative MP Per Ørum Jørgensen joined the party. Since he was not formerly known for having expressed opinions based on Christianity, these events once more softened the religious character of the party. On 30 June 2011, it was announced that the Christian Democrats had started cooperating with Fælleslisten, a
single-issue party Single-issue politics involves political campaigning or political support based on one essential policy area or idea. Political expression One weakness of such an approach is that effective political parties are usually coalitions of faction ...
fighting for
decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...
, especially in health care policy, with some success in regional and local elections. This means that candidates from the two parties appeared on a joint list at the
2011 Danish parliamentary election General elections were held in Denmark on 15 September 2011 to elect the 179 members of the Folketing. Of those 179, 175 members were elected in Denmark, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. The incumbent centre-right coalition led b ...
. The Christian Democrats had themselves taken a somewhat regionalist stance at a moment when Fælleslisten had surged in opinion polls. In September 2012, Per Ørum Jørgensen resigned and subsequently left the party altogether in order to form a new party called the Democratic Party. Egon Jakobsen was appointed as interim chairman, and on 27 October 2012, the former deputy chairman Stig Grenov was elected as new chairman. The 2015 general election marked the first election with Stig Grenov as chairman. Although Grenov managed to make his mark during the campaign, it only resulted in slightly over 1000 more votes than four years earlier. The municipal and regional elections of 2017 saw a slight increase for the party, with the number of elected municipal council members rising from six to nine. Former national chairman Marianne Karlsmose was elected as a member of the regional council in the
Central Denmark Region The Central Denmark Region (), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid-Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform. The refo ...
. However, the party failed to secure a mayor's position in
Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality () is the largest municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Denmark. It was formed on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 administrative reform from the former municipalities of Egvad, Holmsland, Ringkøbing, Skjer ...
. Six days prior to the 2019 general election, Stig Grenov took temporary leave from his position as party chairman due to stress. Vice-chair Isabella Arendt stepped in as acting party chairman, initially for a month, but Grenov's leave was subsequently extended until the party's congress in October 2019, where Isabella Arendt formally became the new chairman. Despite more than doubling the number of votes from 2015, the party was not represented in the Danish Parliament in the 2019 election. Less than 200 votes separated the party from securing a constituency mandate in West Jutland. In 2021,
Jens Rohde Jens Rohde (born 18 April 1970) is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Christian Democrats political party. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2014 until 2019, as a member of the Danish Social L ...
joined the party, resulting in its representation in the Folketing once again. For the party, 2022 was characterized by several prominent figures retiring from national politics. In January, Kristian Andersen, the party's top vote-getter in the West Jutland constituency, announced that he would not run for the next parliament; the same was announced by Jens Rohde in May. Less than two weeks later, Isabella Arendt resigned from the chairmanship and left the party. Marianne Karlsmose then assumed the role of acting national chairman, and in October, she was officially elected as chairman without any opposing candidates. In the general election on November 1, the Christian Democrats received 0,5% of the votes and thus did not enter the Folketing. On November 12, Karlsmose resigned from the chairman position. Instead of electing a new chairman, the party's executive committee agreed to have Karlsmose replaced by organizational and political vice-chairmen, Jesper Housgaard and Henrik Hjortshøj, respectively, until the party's annual meeting in 2023. However, an extraordinary congress was held in March 2023, where Jeppe Hedaa was elected as the new national chairman.


Christian Democratic politicians


Party chairmen

* Jacob Christensen: 1970–1973 * Jens Møller: 1973–1979 * Flemming Kofod-Svendsen: 1979–1990 * Jann Sjursen: 1990–2002 * Marianne Karlsmose: 2002–2005 * Bodil Kornbek: 2005–2008 * Bjarne Hartung Kirkegaard: 2008–2011 * Per Ørum Jørgensen: 2011–2012 * Egon Jakobsen: 2012 (a.i.) * Stig Grenov: 2012–2019 *
Isabella Arendt Isabella Arendt Laursen (born 7 May 1993 in Fredericia) is a Danish politician who was the leader of the Christian Democrats from 2019 to 2022. Arendt lives in Copenhagen and is currently studying political science at Copenhagen University. Pol ...
: 2019–2022 * Marianne Karlsmose: 2022 * Henrik Hjortshøj & Jesper Housgaard: 2022–2023 (a.i.) * Jeppe Hedaa: 2023–present


Ministers

* : Minister for the Environment and Nordic Cooperation (1982–88). * Flemming Kofod-Svendsen: Minister for Housing (1987–88). Minister for Housing, Nordic Cooperation and Baltic Sea Questions (1993–1994). * Jann Sjursen: Minister of Energy (1993–1994).


Election results


Parliament


Local elections


European Parliament


Further reading

*


Notes


References


External links

* in Danish {{European People's Party Christian democratic parties in Europe Protestant political parties Political parties in Denmark Political parties established in 1970 Member parties of the European People's Party 1970 establishments in Denmark Centrist parties in Denmark Pro-European political parties in Denmark Regionalist parties