The Danish People's Party (DPP; , DF) is a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

and

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The party saw a period of significant growth after its founding and lent its support to the – Conservative People's Party coalition government that ruled from the general election of 2001 until the 2011 election defeat. While not part of the cabinet, DF cooperated closely with the governing coalition on most issues and received support for key political stances in return, to the point that the government was commonly referred to as the "VKO-government" (O being DF's election symbol). It also provided parliamentary support to

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 Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was Leader of the Ve ...

's cabinets from 2016 to 2019, again without participating in it. In the

2014 European Parliament election in Denmark The 2014 European Parliament election in Denmark was an election held in Denmark on 25 May 2014 to decide who would represent Denmark in the European Parliament (EP) from 2014 to 2019. The Danish People's Party with 26.6% of the votes became t ...

, DF secured 27% of the vote as part of the

European Conservatives and Reformists European Conservatives and Reformists may refer to: *European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), a soft Eurosceptic European political party *European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists ...

group. This was followed by receiving 21% of the vote in the 2015 general election, becoming the second largest party in Denmark for the first time. However, since 2015, the party has since seen a decline in support, falling to 3rd place and 10.8% of the vote in the

2019 European Parliament election in Denmark The 2019 European Parliament election in Denmark was held on 26 May 2019, and elected the Danish members to the European Parliament. The elections are part of the 2019 European Parliament election, EU-wide elections for the parliament. Denmark ...

, and to just 8.7% in the

2019 Danish general election General elections were held in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark on 5 June 2019 to elect all 179 members of the Folketing; 175 in Geography of Denmark, Denmark proper, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. The elections took place te ...

, resulting in a loss of 21 seats and a return to opposition. The party would later lose over half of its seats in the

2021 Danish local elections Local elections were held in 2021 for Denmark, Denmark's Municipalities of Denmark, 98 municipal councils and Regions of Denmark, five regional councils. All 2,436 seats were contested for the 2022–2025 term of office, together with 205 seats i ...

, losing 130 of the 221 it held before the election, achieving just 4.1% of the vote. Some commentators attributed the losses to internal conditions within the party and conflicts with the leadership, its perceived indecisiveness in government and rival parties adopting many of its policy ideas. The DF would also suffer a number of defections during 2022 following the rise of the

Denmark Democrats The Denmark Democrats ( , DD) is a conservative and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. The party was founded in June 2022 by Inger Støjberg, and is officially titled Denmark DemocratsInger Støjberg (''DanmarksdemokraterneInger St� ...

party which many former DF members and supporters joined. It would receive its worst general election result ever in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, when it only won five seats. , due to defections from Nye Borgerlige, DF now has seven of the seats in the Danish Folketing.

History

The party's popularity has grown since its inception, taking 25 seats in the 179-member

Folketing 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 ...

in the 2007 parliamentary election (13.8% of the vote, remaining the third largest party in Denmark). In the 2011 parliamentary election, while maintaining its position as the third largest party, DF received 12.3% of the vote, marking its first electoral decline.

Kjærsgaard leadership (1995–2012)

Early years (1995–2001)

The Danish People's Party was founded on 6 October 1995, after

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 th ...

Kristian Thulesen Dahl Kristian Thulesen Dahl (born 30 July 1969) is a Danish director and former politician who served as Leader of the Danish People's Party (DPP) from 2012 to 2022. He was a Folketing, Member of the Folketing (MF) from September 1994 until July 2022, ...

, broke out from the Progress Party. Its first national convention was held in

Vissenbjerg Vissenbjerg is a town in central Denmark with a population of 3,251 (1 January 2025),anarchistic conditions" of the Progress Party, and its "all or nothing" policies. It was initially seen by many as a "clone" of the Progress Party, but this was soon proved false. In a struggle to be respected as a responsible party able to cooperate with others and distance it from the conditions in the Progress Party, the leadership of the party struck down criticism from its members by means of expulsions. The party saw a highly centralized party leadership as necessary, as it would not tolerate internal conflicts and disagreements with the official strategy.Meret, 2009, p. 99. The party was the first successful parliamentary party in the Nordic countries to relate philosophically more closely to the French ''

Nouvelle Droite The ''Nouvelle Droite'' (, ), sometimes shortened to the initialism ND, is a far-right politics, far-right political movement which emerged in France during the late 1960s. The ''Nouvelle Droite'' is the origin of the wider European New Right ( ...

'', than to the previous Nordic form of right-wing populism. DF represented a synthesis of several political currents: the Lutheran movement ''

Tidehverv Tidehverv (English: Turn of Times) is the name of a Danish theological movement and its associated periodical. Professor Hans Morten Haugen has described it as the most influential theological movement in Denmark. Originally it was a Grundtvigian ...

'' and its related journal, an intellectual nationalist right from the ''Danish Association'' (''Den Danske Forening'') and conservative populists from the Progress Party. In 1997, the party won about 7% in the municipal elections, and did very well in traditional left-wing municipalities, potentially rivaling 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 ...

.Meret, 2009, p. 98. By 1998, the party had 2,500 registered members. The party made its electoral debut in the 1998 Danish parliamentary election, winning 13 seats and 7.4% of the vote. The party was, however, left with no influence in the formation of a government; it was shut out in large part due to the perception that it was not '' stuerent'' (i.e. not acceptable or "housebroken").

Venstre-Conservative coalitions (2001–2011)

In the 2001 election, the party won 12% of the vote and 22 seats in

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. It became the third largest party in the parliament, giving them a key position, as they would have a parliamentary majority together with the Conservative People's Party and . DF was favoured by these parties, as it had supported the candidate for Prime Minister,

Anders Fogh Rasmussen Anders Fogh Rasmussen (; born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician who was the prime minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became ...

, during the election campaign. Eventually, it gave its parliamentary support for a -Conservative coalition government, headed by Prime Minister Rasmussen, in exchange for the implementation of some of their key demands, first and foremost stricter policies on immigration. The party had a key role in writing the rules and conditions for immigration in the immigration law that was established by the government in May 2002, which it called "Europe's strictest". In the

2005 election The following elections occurred in the year 2005. * 2005 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2005 Burkinabé presidential election * 2005 Burundian Senate election * 2005 Burundian communal elections * 2005 Burundian constitutio ...

, the party further increased their vote, and won 13.2% of the vote and 24 seats. With young first-time voters the party was even more popular, receiving one fifth of their votes. The party continued to support the government, and developed a broader policy base, as it made welfare policies its core issue, together with immigration policies. In 2006, the party's popularity rose dramatically in

opinion polls An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of que ...

following the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy, at the expense of the

. The average of all monthly national polls showed DF gaining seven seats in parliament from January to February, with the Social Democrats losing an equal number. This effect, however, somewhat waned with the falling media attention to the cartoons controversy. In the 2007 parliamentary election, DF won 13.9% and 25 seats, and again continued to support the Conservative-Liberal government. Thus, in every election since its founding the party has had a steady growth, although the growth rate has stagnated somewhat in recent years. Parties in the political centre, particularly the newly founded New Alliance had sought to become the kingmaker and be able to isolate the immigration policies of DF, but eventually failed. The party was a member of the

Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy The Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (), abbreviated to MELD, was a national conservatism, national-conservative European political party founded in 2011, composed of parties belonging to the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) ...

(MELD). In the 2009 elections for the European Parliament, the prime candidate for the party,

Morten Messerschmidt Morten Messerschmidt (born 13 November 1980) is a Danish politician and since 2022 leader of the Danish People's Party. He was an elected Member of the Folketing at the 2019 Danish general election having previously served from 2005 to 2009. At ...

, won his seat in a landslide with 284,500 personal votes (most votes for any single candidate by any party); thus giving the party a second seat (which went to Anna Rosbach Andersen). The party made a breakthrough from its previous results in European elections, more than doubling its vote to 15.3%, and receiving 2 MEPs. On 15 September 2012, Kristian Thuesen Dahl succeeded Kjærsgaard as chairman.

Thulesen Dahl leadership (2012–2022)

During the

2015 election Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African g ...

, the DF won 21.08% of the national vote under the leadership of

, the highest since its founding and gained 37 seats putting the party in second place. In the aftermath, the party entered negotiations with to again provide parliamentary support in return for stricter policies on immigration and the EU. A minority government headed by

was subsequently formed with the DF, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People's Party providing support. The party suffered a major defeat in the 2019 election, recording its worst result since 1998. It won just 8.7% of the vote and 16 seats, a net loss of 21 seats since 2015; it fell to third place, just narrowly outpolling 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 ...

. Some journalists and political commentators opined that the DF's loss in support was as a result of the party's refusal and indecisiveness on taking direct part in government and the main parties including the Social Democrats adopting many of the DF's policies on immigration and integration. In January 2022, Dahl stood down as leader and was replaced by

in a leadership election where he won 499 out of the 828 delegators' votes against two other candidates. After Messerschmidt, a total of 11 out of 16 MPs had in June left the party including Thuelsen Dahl who was the only one of them who passed on his seat to the next in line.

Messerschmidt leadership (2022–present)

At the 2022 election, the party suffered its worst election result ever with 2.6% of the vote, equal to 5 seats. In December 2022, Morten Messerschmidt was

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

of all charges related to prior allegations of misuse of EU funds according to several political analysts and commentators, paving the way for a restoration of the party. During January and February 2023, Mikkel Bjørn and Mette Thiesen, who were both elected for Nye Borgerlige, joined the Danish People's Party, increasing its seat count to seven. As of September 2024 the Danish People's Party has seen its support increased to around 4% in the polls.

Ideology and policies

DF is a

and

party. It is positioned on the

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

of the

political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...

. The DF's stated goals are to protect the freedom and cultural heritage of the Danish people, including the family, the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark, to enforce a strict

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

, to work against Denmark becoming a multi-cultural society by limiting

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

and promoting

cultural assimilation Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's Dominant culture, majority group or fully adopts the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group. The melting pot model is based on this ...

of admitted immigrants, to maintain a strong welfare system for those in need, and to promote

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

and

economic growth In economics, economic growth is an increase in the quantity and quality of the economic goods and Service (economics), services that a society Production (economics), produces. It can be measured as the increase in the inflation-adjusted Outp ...

by strengthening education and encouraging people to work, to protect the environment and natural resources, and to protect Danish sovereignty against the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. In comparison to its predecessor, the Progress Party, the DF focuses more on immigration, while at the same time being more pragmatic on other topics. While overall considered part of the radical right, its policies on most economic issues would rather place the party in the centre to centre-left.Liubomir K. Topaloff (2012).
Political Parties and Euroscepticism
'. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 178. The party's former leader, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, once declared DF an anti-

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

party.

Immigration

DF is opposed to immigration. The party holds that Denmark is not naturally a country of

. The party also does not accept a

multi-ethnic The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mult ...

transformation of Denmark, and rejects

multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''Pluralism (political theory), ethnic'' or cultura ...

. Former party leader Pia Kjærsgaard stated she did "not want Denmark as a multiethnic, multicultural society", and that a multiethnic Denmark would be a "national disaster". The party seeks to drastically reduce non-Western immigration and favors

of immigrants from all religions. In 2010, the party proposed to put a complete stop to all immigration from non-Western countries, a continuation of a proposal the month before to toughen the

24-year rule The 24-year rule is the popular name for a rule in Danish immigration law §9. It states a number of requirements to a married couple if they want a permanent residence in Denmark. It is meant to cut down forced marriages and family reunification ...

. They do, however, make the distinction between immigrants, those who intend to stay in Denmark permanently, and refugees, those that will only be in Denmark for the duration of the conflict, but ultimately intend to return home. The party has stated that it is more than happy to help those in need, but have a moral responsibility to the people of Denmark to keep Denmark Danish. Cooperation with the Conservative-Liberal coalition government resulted in the implementation of some of their key demands, most importantly strong restrictions in immigration policies, which have resulted in what is often described as Europe's strictest immigration laws. The new government enacted rules that prevented Danish citizens and others from bringing a foreign spouse into the country unless both partners were aged 24 or above, passed a solvency test showing the Dane had not claimed social security for 12 months, and could lodge a bond of 60,011 kroner (about US$10,100). One declared aim of this was to fight

arranged marriages Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures, a professional matchmaker may be ...

. These new rules had the effect that while about 8,151

family reunification Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries because of the presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the divided family or only specific members of the family to ...

permits were granted in 2002, the number had fallen to 3,525 by 2005. Some social benefits for refugees were also cut by 30-40% during their first seven years in power. Ordinary unemployment benefits were replaced by a reduced "start-up aid". Whereas the government coalition's declared aim with this was to improve integration by inciting people to work, immigration spokesman

Søren Krarup Søren Krarup (3 December 1937 – 8 November 2023) was a Danish pastor, writer and politician who served as a Member of the Folketing, member of the Folketing, Danish Parliament from 2001 to 2011 for the Danish People's Party. Krarup was a sig ...

of DF has expressed his content in that the start-up aid has decreased the number of economic refugees greatly, showing them that "one does not find gold on the street, as has been told out in the third world". Nevertheless, total immigration increased post implementation of the migration reforms.

Domestic policy

The party advocates stricter punishments for crimes such as

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

, reckless driving, and cruelty to animals. It supports grants for specific research into

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...

, and

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

history as well as increased defense spending. It also wants to maintain the Danish

and the current

Danish constitution The Constitutional Act of the Realm of Denmark (), also known as the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply the Constitution (, , ), is the constitution of the Kingdom of Denmark, applying equally in the Realm of Denmark: Denma ...

, and to abolish the 'hate speech' clause in the Danish criminal code.

Economy

The party is considered to be the first pure example of a radical right-wing populist (RRP) party in Denmark; as such the party was described as the "pioneer of welfare chauvinism". According to ''

Scandinavian Political Studies ''Scandinavian Political Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering political science in the Nordic countries published by Wiley-Blackwell. The current joint editors-in-chief are Maximilian Conrad (University of Iceland), Silj ...

'', the success of the party in the 2015 election was not based only on its hardline stance towards immigration, but also its support for pro-welfare, redistributive policies that voters considered highly neglected by the

. This made "economic insecurity, marginalization, regional core–periphery divides" the decisive factors of the 2015 election. In the

, Social Democrats were then able to regain voters they lost to Danish People's Party by sharply turning left on welfare and redistribution, as well as shifting right on social issues by adopting "

left-conservative List of left-conservative political parties may refer to: * List of economic left and socially conservative political parties * List of moderate conservative political parties and caucuses * List of liberal conservative political parties and cau ...

" stances. DPP was therefore classified as economically left and socially right-wing, as it shares its voter base with a “left conservative” social democratic party, which Social Democrats became between 2015 and 2019. Despite its right-wing orientation, Danish People's Party stands to the left of center on the issues of economic and welfare, favouring staunchly left-wing policies towards the elderly. However, the party also has a strong welfare chauvinist policy, and has some conservative inclinations on income benefits. While the populist nature of the party could make its program appear blurry and constantly oscillating between the economic centre and economic left, its economic stance is much closer to Social Democrats and the Socialist People's Party than the centre-left

Danish Social Liberal Party The Danish Social Liberal Party (, RV, ) is a Social liberalism, social-liberal List of political parties in Denmark, political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre (Denmark), Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Histori ...

. DPP largely tried to imitate the traditionally left-wing economic policies; this made DPP a "working-class party" that was able to attract manual workers at odds with the stance of left-wing Danish parties on socio-cultural issues. Prior to 2015, these voters would still vote for traditional left-wing parties as long as they identified with their economic positions and saw them as defenders of the working class. Norwegian political scientist Anders Ravik Jupskås described Danish People's Party as a unique right-wing populist party that appeals to "authoritarian working class" and presents a platform that is "a combination of left-wing economics and nativist immigration policies". The party described itself as the "true defender of the Danish welfare state" and campaigned on excluding immigrants from the Danish welfare state as the best way to protect it. However, the party also spoke in favour of increasing spending for Danish pensions and healthcare, and it was found that the party's voters "most unanimously favour increasing expenditures, even in comparison with social democrats and left wing voters". The party warned against the creeping market liberalisation and attacked neoliberalism and globalization on both economic and social perspectives, which allowed it to make inroads with working-class voters. The party also promised to empower trade unions and entered cooperation agreements with minor unions and workers' associations. The party wants to improve conditions for the

elderly Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

and disabled. Under Messerschmidt's leadership, the party has moved in a more economic liberal direction, advocating tax cuts.

Religion

The party is very hostile to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, and are cited on wanting a Denmark without any hint of Islam. They have proposed banning

halal ''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...

meat in order to reduce overall meat production and demand in Denmark, and suggested a

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

that Muslims were getting jobs in social security management in order to give other Muslims early retirement pensions.

Foreign policy

The party supported Danish participation in France's

Operation Serval Operation Serval () was a French military operation in Mali. The aim of the operation was to oust Islamic militants from the north of Mali, who had begun a push into the center of Mali. Operation Serval followed the United Nations Security ...

against Islamist fighters in Mali. However, it opposed proposals for Danish involvement in the Syrian Civil War.

Europe

The party opposes a cession of Denmark's

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

to the

and opposes further EU integration and

Eurofederalism A federal Europe, also referred to as the United States of Europe (USE) or a European federation, is a hypothetical scenario of European integration leading to the formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of America), ...

. It also opposes the

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

currency and wants to maintain the

Danish krone The krone (; plural: ''kroner''; sign: kr.; code: DKK) is the official currency of Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, introduced on 1 January 1875. Both the ISO code "DKK" and currency sign "kr." are in common use; the former precedes ...

. It is also against the potential

accession of Turkey to the European Union Turkey is negotiating its accession to the European Union (EU) as a member state, following its application to become a full member of the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor of the EU, on 14 April 1987. After the ten founding ...

. DF is

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

. In 2007, the party opposed the Danish government's plan to recognise the independence of Kosovo, and maintained the territorial integrity of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. Although the party supports Ukraine in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, it has stated that its support has an "expiration date", and expressed opposition to Ukrainian EU membership, criticising the Ukrainian government's approach to rule of law. In July 2024, the party's MEP Anders Vistisen proposed a motion stating there is "no military solution to the conflict and that peace is the only viable and sustainable solution", urging Ukraine and Russia to conduct peace talks. In 2025, party leader Morten Messerschmidt called for a scaling back of Danish military support for Ukraine, advocated for Ukraine to make territorial concessions to secure peace and expressed opposition to Ukrainian NATO membership while it remains in a state of war.

NATO

The DF also supports Danish membership of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. The party initially voted in favour of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but in 2014, the foreign affairs spokesman

Søren Espersen Søren Espersen (born 20 July 1953) is a Danish politician, journalist, and author, who is a member of the Folketing for the Denmark Democrats. Espersen was originally elected for the Danish People's Party in 2005, and was the party's foreign aff ...

said this support had been mistaken and that the rule of former dictator

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

was "far preferable" to the events that followed. He claimed the party had "blindly followed" Prime Minister

at the time of the invasion. The party supported Danish enforcement of a no-fly zone during the

2011 military intervention in Libya On 19 March 2011, a NATO-led coalition began a military intervention into the ongoing Libyan civil war (2011), Libyan Civil War to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 (UNSCR 1973). The UN Security Council passed the reso ...

, but was initially sceptical of proposals for direct Danish military involvement. The party later supported the decision out of solidarity with NATO. The party leadership subsequently supported extending the Danish mission in Libya, despite the disagreement of its defense spokesman Ib Poulsen. Three years after the intervention, foreign affairs spokesman Espersen stated the party's support for the intervention was a "mistake" and predicated on a misunderstanding of the ideology of the Libyan rebels.

Middle East

The DF is supportive of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and opposes the recognition of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

on the grounds that there is no effective Palestinian state, and wants to move the Danish embassy in Israel to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. In May 2025 they claimed that Israel's blockade of

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

aid was warranted, claiming that aid deliveries were used to smuggle weapons to

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

Asia

The party seeks international recognition of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and supports Taiwan in its disputes with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Analysis of vote

* An analysis by the trade union SiD after the 2001 election stated that among unskilled workers aged under 40, 30% voted for DF and only 25% for the Social Democrats. * Decreased importance of "economic cleavage": Several authors believe that the political "cleavages" of European societies have changed over recent decades Contemporary Western European democracies are characterized by two major cleavage dimensions: the economic cleavage dimension, which pits workers against the capital, and which concerns the degree of state involvement in the economy, and the socio-cultural cleavage dimension. * Referendums brought the rejection of the

Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Communities, ...

and the

. The DF has managed to harness this scepticism more effectively than others. One feature, compared to other Danish parties, is that the Danish People's Party is usually underrepresented by about 1-1.5% in

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...

s. Election researchers have suggested that the party's voters may be less interested in politics, and therefore declining to talk to pollsters, or that voters are reluctant to reveal their support for the party to pollsters.

Organization

Leaders

The party has had the following leaders since its foundation:

International affiliations

The Danish People's Party distanced itself from the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

until 2010, when

travelled to Sweden to support the Sweden Democrats' election campaign. Danish People's Party foreign affairs spokesman

subsequently hosted the Sweden Democrats and said both parties would work together in the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...

, with the parties ultimately forming the

Nordic Freedom Nordic Freedom (, ) is a right-wing to far right party group in the Nordic Council and an alliance in the European Parliament. European Parliament In July 2024, Nordic Freedom expanded to the European Parliament as an alliance within the Europe ...

group in 2012. In the European Parliament, the Danish People's Party was initially part of

Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) was a national-conservative, Eurosceptic political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009. At its height in February 2008, it had 44 MEPs. UEN was affiliated with the Alliance ...

group from 1999 to 2009, alongside parties like the Polish

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

and the Italian

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

and

National Alliance National Alliance may refer to: Electoral alliances *National Alliance (Egypt) (2015) * National Alliance (Ireland) (2024 onwards) * National Alliance (Pakistan) (2002-2004) *Nation Alliance (Turkey) (2018-2023) Political parties and organizations ...

, as well as the associated

Alliance for Europe of the Nations The Alliance for Europe of the Nations was a European political party that gathered conservative and national-conservative political parties from across the continent. History The AEN was founded in 2002, designed to complement the existing Un ...

pan-European political party. In 2009, it joined the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

-led

Europe of Freedom and Democracy Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a far-right,Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy The Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (), abbreviated to MELD, was a national conservatism, national-conservative European political party founded in 2011, composed of parties belonging to the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) ...

alliance, alongside its Nordic ally, the

Finns Party The Finns Party ( , PS; , Sannf), formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The party achieved its electoral breakthro ...

. In 2014, along with the Finns Party, it moved to the British Conservative Party-dominated

group, and threatened to cut ties with the Sweden Democrats if they continued negotiations to join a new group involving the French National Front (FN) and the

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...

(FPÖ). Despite this, in 2019, the DF itself announced it would join a new European Parliament group led by the Lega Nord's

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of F ...

called

Identity and Democracy Identity and Democracy (ID; ) was a political group of the European Parliament during the Ninth European Parliament term, launched on 13 June 2019. It comprised Far right politics, far-right, Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Euroscept ...

(ID), which also involved the FN and FPÖ. During a 2024 bid by the FN's successor, the

National Rally The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...

, to exclude

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

(AfD) from the ID Group, the DF stated that the AfD could only remain in the group if it expelled Maximilian Krah, and later joined the RN in voting to expel the AfD. After the

2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

, the DF joined the

Patriots for Europe Patriots for Europe (PfE or Patriots) is a right-wing to far-right sovereigntist political group, formed as the third-largest group ahead of the tenth European Parliament. The group includes all but one member from the Identity and Democracy g ...

group, which was founded by the Hungarian

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; ) is a national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán. It has increasingly identified as illiberal. Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats () as ...

, the FPÖ and the Czech

ANO 2011 ANO (), registered as ANO 2011, is a right-wing populist political party in the Czech Republic, led by businessman Andrej Babiš, who served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 2017 to 2021. Formed in 2011, the party finished second i ...

. In September 2024, National Rally leader

Jordan Bardella Jordan Bardella (; born 13 September 1995) is a French politician who has been the president of the National Rally (RN) since 2022, after serving as acting president from September 2021 to November 2022 and as vice-president from 2019 to 2022. ...

visited Copenhagen to address the party conference and establish a "working partnership" with the DF.

Election results

Parliament

Local elections

European Parliament

Notes

References

Sources

* *

External links

* * *
Dansk Folkeparti
- Official site
The Party Program of the Danish People's Party
Official website (page in English). {{Danish People's Party 1995 establishments in Denmark Anti-immigration politics in Europe Anti-Islam political parties in Europe Anti-Islam sentiment in Denmark Conservative parties in Denmark European Conservatives and Reformists Group member parties Eurosceptic parties in Denmark Far-right politics in Denmark National conservative parties Nationalist parties in Denmark Political parties established in 1995 Right-wing parties in Europe Right-wing populism in Denmark Right-wing populist parties Socially conservative parties Right-wing politics in Denmark Authoritarianism