The Christian Democrats (, KD) is 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 pornography and the legalization of abortion. The party renamed itself to its current name in 2003. Originally, the party was not considered part of the European Christian-democratic tradition, and it was better known as a religious conservative party.

The Christian Democrats are a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and the Centrist Democrat International.

History The party was formed in 1970. Since its inception, the party has enjoyed an intermittent presence in the Parliament of Denmark, rarely winning much more than the two percent minimum required to gain seats under Denmark's proportional representation 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, Conservative People's Party and Centre Democrats; from 1993 to 1994, it served in government with the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals 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 Independent 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 fighting for decentralization, 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. 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. However, the party failed to secure a mayor's position in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality.

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 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: 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 Date Votes Seats # % ± pp # ± 1971 57,072 1.9% +1.9 New 1973 123,573 4.0% +2.1 7 1975 162,734 5.3% +1.3 2 1977 106,082 3.4% −1.9 3 1979 82,133 2.6% −0.8 1 1981 72,174 2.3% −0.3 1 1984 91,623 2.7% +0.4 1 1987 79,664 2.4% −0.3 1 1988 68,047 2.0% −0.4 0 1990 74,174 2.3% +0.3 0 1994 61,507 1.9% −0.4 4 1998 85,656 2.5% +0.6 4 2001 78,793 2.3% −0.2 0 2005 58,071 1.7% −0.6 4 2007 30,013 0.9% −0.8 0 2011 28,070 0.8% −0.1 0 2015 29,077 0.8% 0.0 0 2019 61,215 1.7% +0.9 0 2022 18,276 0.5% −1.2 0

Local elections Municipal elections Date Seats # ± 1974 New 1978 9 1981 1 1985 6 1989 12 1993 13 1997 2 2001 1 2005 16 2009 9 2013 0 2017 3 2021 3 Regional elections Date Votes Seats # ± 1974 71.787 New 1978 52.201 4 1981 46.425 1 1985 47.847 0 1989 49,084 1 1993 44,938 2 1997 44,154 3 2001 55,683 2 2005 47,862 2 2009 23,170 2 2013 25,281 0 2017 26,082 1 2021 35,168 0

European Parliament

Date Votes Seats # % ± pp # ± 1979 30,985 1.8% +1.8 New 1984 54,624 2.7% +2.7 0 1989 47,768 2.7% 0.0 0 1994 22,986 1.1% −1.6 0 1999 39,128 2.0% +0.9 0 2004 24,286 1.3% −0.7 0 2009–presentdid not run.

Further reading

Notes

References

External links in Danish