The left wins, the far right doesn’t lose

The Social Democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Social Liberal Margrethe Vestager, and the leader of the far-left Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen: “the Prime Minister & the winners" are presented on *Berlingske*'s front page. In the wake of parliamentary elections won by the left on 15 September, the newspaper notes that it is thanks to her partners that Thorning-Schmidt will become the first Danish woman to head a government. The Social Democratic Party, however, won fewer seats than in 2007. With 92 seats against 87 for the right “the left may have won, but it's a minor victory," says the paper.

The Jyllands-Posten, meanwhile, notes that although the Danish People's Party (DF, far right) dropped to 22 seats from the 25 it held previously and is no longer able to support a liberal-conservative majority, as it had for 10 years, the outcome of this election cannot be interpreted as "a vote of confidence in Helle Thorning-Schmidt and her programme."

Can she use the new majority to put an end to the influence of the far right on the political debate? Information notes that both the Social Democrats and the Socialists have adopted the immigration policy of the right. In fact, the daily notes, "Helle Thorning-Schmidt finds herself, with Pia Kjaersgaard (the leader of the DF), to be the strongest advocate of a decade of outrageous immigration policy."