2024 European Parliament election in Denmark

In February 2023, the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament (AFCO) released a draft report by Lóránt Vincze and Sandro Gozi on the composition of the European Parliament in order to respect the principle of degressive proportionality (enshrined in the TEU). It was approved by both the AFCO on 12 June 2023,^[4] as well as EP plenary on 15 June.^[5][6] The final report was adopted by the European Council on 22 September 2023.^[7] With its implementation, Denmark was allocated an additional seat for the European Parliament elections, changing the number from 14 to 15.

On 31 March 2023, Christel Schaldemose was nominated as the main candidate of the Social Democrats.^[8] On 15 April 2023, Henrik Dahl announced his candidacy for Liberal Alliance.^[9] On 22 April 2023, Morten Løkkegaard was nominated as the main candidate for Venstre.^[10]

On 26 May 2023, an electoral alliance was announced between the Social Democrats, Green Left, and The Alternative.^[11]

On 16 October 2023, an electoral alliance was announced between the Conservatives and Liberal Alliance^[12]

On 7 January 2024, Martin Lidegaard revealed, possibly by mistake, that the Social Liberals wished to join an electoral alliance with Venstre.^[13] On 16 January 2024, sources of Altinget said that the two parties and the Moderates would join an electoral alliance.^[14] It was officially announced on 26 January 2024.^[15]

On 10 January 2024, Pernille Vermund announced that New Right and its parliamentary group would be dissolved,^[16] which caused the party to lose ballot access. On 8 March 2024, it gave up on contesting the election.^[17]

15 members of the European Parliament will be elected in Denmark through a single constituency, using the D'Hondt method. Parties can choose to either use open list or mostly closed list. Unlike in parliamentary elections, but similarly to local elections, electoral alliances are allowed.

To be an eligible voter one must be at least 18 years old and meet one of the following requirements:

• Danish citizenship and permanent residence in Denmark or another EU member state;

or

• citizenship in another EU member state and resident in Denmark.

To contest the election, a party must either have earned representation at the previous parliamentary election and still be represented in the Folketing 9 weeks before the election date (7 April 2024), or earned representation at the previous European Parliament election in Denmark and still be represented in the European Parliament 9 weeks before the election date. If none of these criteria are met, a party must collect voter signatures from a number of voters equal to at least 2% of the valid votes at the last parliamentary election (70,680). The signatures must be submitted at latest 11 weeks before the election date (24 March 2024).^[18]

The election used the 92 Folketing nomination districts for administrative and statistical purposes, but they had no impact on the distribution of seats as Denmark forms a single nationwide constituency for European Parliament elections.^[18]

The table shows the detailed composition of the Danish seats at the European Parliament as of April 2024.

Because no party managed to obtain the required signatures before 24 March 2024, only the 11 parties represented in the Folketing on 7 April 2024 were eligible to contest the election. Of the 11 parties contesting the election, 8 are currently represented in the European Parliament and are members of a group. Liberal Alliance, the Denmark Democrats, and the Alternative are not represented in the European Parliament, and are thus not part of any group, but intend to join EPP,^[25] ECR,^[26] and Greens/EFA^[27] respectively in the event they obtain representation in the European Parliament.^[28]

For European Parliament elections in Denmark, apparentments (or electoral alliances) are allowed. If parties agree to enter an electoral alliance, they will count their votes as one and be allocated seats as though it was one party, using the D'Hondt method. When an electoral alliance has been allocated the number of seats it is entitled to, the seats will similarly be divided between them using the D'Hondt method. The following electoral alliances were submitted for the election:^[28]

The following candidates are contesting the election for each party.^[28] The candidates are listed in the order listed on the ballot throughout the country.^[37]

The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The seats the result would produce is shown below the result for each party. The electoral alliances announced for this election are taken into account.