Pro-business Demokraatit party, which favours slow approach to independence from Denmark, wins election.
Greenland’s centre-right opposition Demokraatit party has won a parliamentary election overshadowed by United States President Donald Trump’s pledge to take control of the strategically placed Arctic island.
Demokraatit, which is described as pro-business and favours a slow approach to independence from Denmark, won 29.9 percent of votes following Tuesday’s election, the Reuters news agency reports, ahead of the opposition Naleraq party, which favours rapid independence, at 24.5 percent after all votes were counted.
“People want change … We want more business to finance our welfare,” said Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Demokraatit’s leader and a former minister of industry and minerals.
“We don’t want independence tomorrow, we want a good foundation,” Nielsen told reporters.
Nielsen will now get a chance to form a governing coalition via talks with other parties.
Greenland’s governing Inuit Ataqatigiit party and its partner Siumut, which also seek a slow path towards independence, won a combined 36 percent of votes, down from 66.1 percent in 2021.
Voting was extended by half an hour past a 22:00 GMT deadline on Tuesday amid high voter turnout at several of the 72 polling stations across the mineral-rich island, where 40,500 people were eligible to cast their ballot.
Trump’s pledge
Since taking office in January, Trump has promised to make Greenland – a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark – part of the US, saying it is vital to US security interests.
The vast island, with a population of just 57,000, has been caught up in a geopolitical race for dominance in the Arctic, where melting ice caps are making its rich resources of rare earth metals more accessible and opening new shipping routes.
Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Bourup Egede, called the election last month, saying the territory needed to be united during a “serious time” that is unlike anything Greenland has ever experienced.
While Trump has been outspoken about his desire to control Greenland, both Russia and China have also intensified military activity in the Arctic region.
Greenland is a former Danish colony and a territory since 1953. It gained some autonomy in 1979 when its first parliament was formed, but Copenhagen still controls foreign affairs, defence and monetary policy and provides just under $1bn a year to the economy.
In 2009, Greenland won the right to declare full independence through a referendum, even though it has not done so out of concern that living standards would drop without Denmark’s economic support.
Julie Rademacher, a consultant and former adviser to Greenland’s government, said that early on, the election campaign focused on the anger and frustration aimed at historical wrongdoings by former colonial ruler Denmark.
“But I think the fear of the US imperialist approach has lately become bigger than the anger towards Denmark,” Rademacher said.
The Reuters news agency spoke to more than a dozen Greenlanders in Nuuk, all of whom said they favoured independence, although many expressed concern that a swift transition could damage the economy and eliminate Nordic welfare services like universal healthcare and free schooling.
“We don’t want to be part of the US for obvious reasons; healthcare and Trump,” said Tuuta Lynge-Larsen, a bank employee and Nuuk resident, adding that this election was especially important.
A poll in January suggested that the majority of Greenland’s inhabitants support independence but are divided on timing.
