Venstre (Denmark)

History

1870–1910

Venstre was founded in 1870 under the name "Det Forenede Venstre" (). Originally, the party consisted of multiple conflicting groups, all united under the classical liberal (then the standard left-wing) ideology, the safeguarding of farmers' interests and opposition to the then right-wing classical conservative party Højre (literally "Right"). After the party in 1872 gained an absolute majority in the Folketing, it became the leading voice in the battle for parliamentarism, whereafter the party in 1895 split in two, Venstrereformpartiet ("Venstre Reform Party") and Det Moderate Venstre ("The Moderate Left"). In 1905, social liberal factions split from the party and formed Radikale Venstre (also known as the Danish Social Liberal Party), and in 1910 Venstrereformpartiet and Det Moderate Venstre reunited again under the name Venstre.

1910–2009

With the decreasing numbers of farms and the growing urbanisation, membership and voter support dropped in the 1950s. During the 1960s the party gradually evolved from being a traditional farmers' party to a more general liberal party. In 1984 Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was elected chairman, and by profiling the liberal ideology in sharp confrontation to the Social Democrats, for example by campaigning for a reduction of the public sector, increasing market management and privatisation, and by being pro-EU, the party returned to its historical position as the biggest liberal party in the 1990s.

After a disappointing 1998 general election, Ellemann-Jensen resigned as chairman and Anders Fogh Rasmussen was elected in his place. He immediately changed the party's usual confrontational strategy, instead appealing to the political centre. In the 2001 general elections the party campaigned for tighter immigration policies and a "tax stop", which proved successful and the party once again became the biggest in parliament, winning 31.2% of the vote and 56 seats. Venstre formed a coalition government with the Conservative People's Party and the Danish People's Party. For the first time since 1929 a liberal government was no longer dependent on the centre parties. Despite a small decline in both the 2005 general elections (29% and 52 seats) and the 2007 general elections (26.2% and 46 seats), the party remained the biggest and the coalition government continued.

On 5 April 2009, Fogh Rasmussen resigned as chairman, instead serving as Secretary General of NATO. In his place Lars Løkke Rasmussen was elected.

2009–present

In the 2011 general elections, the party gained 26.7% of the vote and 47 seats, but was not able to form a government, instead leading the opposition against Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt's Social Democratic coalition.

Even though the party lost voter support in the 2015 general elections, only gaining 19.5% of the vote, the party formed a minority government. This government was short-lived, and in 2016 Løkke Rasmussen invited the Conservative People's Party and the Liberal Alliance to form a coalition government instead.

During the campaign of the 2019 general elections, Løkke Rasmussen published an autobiography, in which he opened up for the possibility of forming a government with the Social Democrats. This was seen as controversial in the liberal "blue bloc", and Social Democratic leader Mette Frederiksen immediately declined the proposition.

Following internal fighting in the party, Løkke Rasmussen and vice chairman Kristian Jensen both resigned on 31 August 2019. On 21 September 2019, political spokesman and former Minister for Environment and Food Jakob Ellemann-Jensen was elected the party's next chairman.

Following the 2022 general election, in which Venstre suffered its worst result since 1988, Venstre joined a grand coalition government led by Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen, and also comprising the Moderates, a Venstre splinter formed by former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

Ideology

Venstre is categorised as centre-right on the political spectrum, although it has been also described as centrist and right-wing. Ideologically, it has been described as conservative-liberal, liberal-conservative, liberal, conservative, classical-liberal, and agrarian. Additionally, Venstre takes a nativist stance regarding immigration and asylum-seeking; they had also said that "immigrants should learn Danish and understand and respect Danish culture and traditions".

Venstre is an economically liberal party within the Nordic agrarian tradition, and today is notably more pro–free market than its sister parties. Since the elections in 2001, Venstre has enacted a so-called "tax stop" in order to halt the growth in taxes seen during the previous eight years under the Social Democrats. This tax stop has been under heavy fire from the parties on the left bloc of Danish politics, allegedly for being "asocial" and "only for the rich."

Organization

Name and terms

The fact that the major centre-right political party in a country calls itself 'Left' is often confusing to foreign (and sometimes Danish) observers. The name has, however, its historical explanation. At the time of its foundation, Venstre affirmed then-progressive ideas in the Danish parliament. Their opponents, Højre (Right), the forerunner of the present-day Conservative People's Party, advocated for established interests, particularly the Church of Denmark and the landed gentry. In current Danish politics there is a clear distinction between the concepts of Venstre (Left, i.e., the party bearing that name) and venstrefløj (left wing, i.e., socialist and other left-leaning parties). The use of the word for "left" in the name of the Danish political party Radikale Venstre (literally: "Radical Left") and the Norwegian party Venstre is meant to refer to liberalism and not socialism.

Members of the party are referred to as venstremænd and venstrekvinder, respectively "Venstre men" and "Venstre women" (singular: -mand, -kvinde).

Leadership

Prime ministers

• Johan Henrik Deuntzer (24 July 190114 January 1905)
• Jens Christian Christensen (14 January 190512 October 1908)
• Niels Neergaard (12 October 190816 August 1909)
• Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg (16 August 190928 October 1909)
• Klaus Berntsen (5 July 191021 June 1913)
• Niels Neergaard (5 May 192023 April 1924)
• Thomas Madsen-Mygdal (14 December 192630 April 1929)
• Knud Kristensen (7 November 194513 November 1947)
• Erik Eriksen (30 October 195030 September 1953)
• Poul Hartling (19 December 197313 February 1975)
• Anders Fogh Rasmussen (27 November 20015 April 2009)
• Lars Løkke Rasmussen (5 April 20093 October 2011; 28 June 201527 June 2019)

Youth and student wings

• Venstres Ungdom
• Liberal Students of Denmark (Danmarks Liberale Studerende)

European affiliation and representation

In the European Parliament, Venstre sits in the Renew Europe group with four MEPs.

In the European Committee of the Regions, Venstre sits in the Renew Europe CoR group, with three full and four alternate members for the 2025–2030 mandate.

Election results

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bar:1910 from:start till:34.1 text:34.1 bar:1913 from:start till:29.0 text:29.0 bar:1918 from:start till:29.7 text:29.7 bar:1920 from:start till:34.4 text:34.4 bar:1920-2 from:start till:36.2 text:36.2 bar:1920-3 from:start till:34.0 text:34.0 bar:1924 from:start till:28.3 text:28.3 bar:1926 from:start till:28.3 text:28.3 bar:1929 from:start till:28.3 text:28.3 bar:1932 from:start till:24.7 text:24.7 bar:1935 from:start till:17.9 text:17.9 bar:1939 from:start till:18.2 text:18.2 bar:1943 from:start till:18.7 text:18.7 bar:1945 from:start till:23.4 text:23.4 bar:1947 from:start till:26.1 text:26.1 bar:1950 from:start till:21.3 text:21.3 bar:1953 from:start till:22.1 text:22.1 bar:1953-2 from:start till:23.1 text:23.1 bar:1957 from:start till:25.1 text:25.1 bar:1960 from:start till:21.1 text:21.1 bar:1964 from:start till:20.8 text:20.8 bar:1966 from:start till:19.3 text:19.3 bar:1968 from:start till:18.6 text:18.6 bar:1971 from:start till:15.6 text:15.6 bar:1973 from:start till:12.3 text:12.3 bar:1975 from:start till:23.3 text:23.3 bar:1977 from:start till:12.0 text:12.0 bar:1979 from:start till:12.5 text:12.5 bar:1981 from:start till:11.3 text:11.3 bar:1984 from:start till:12.1 text:12.1 bar:1987 from:start till:10.5 text:10.5 bar:1988 from:start till:11.8 text:11.8 bar:1990 from:start till:15.8 text:15.8 bar:1994 from:start till:23.3 text:23.3 bar:1998 from:start till:24.0 text:24.0 bar:2001 from:start till:31.2 text:31.2 bar:2005 from:start till:29.0 text:29.0 bar:2007 from:start till:26.3 text:26.3 bar:2011 from:start till:26.7 text:26.7 bar:2015 from:start till:19.5 text:19.5 bar:2019 from:start till:23.4 text:23.4 bar:2022 from:start till:13.3 text:13.3

Parliament

Local elections

;Regional elections

;Mayors

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European Parliament

Notes

References

References

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