- Conservative People's Party (Denmark)
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Conservative People's Party
Det Konservative FolkepartiLeader Lars Barfoed Founded 1915 Headquarters Nyhavn 4
1051 København KYouth wing Young Conservatives Student wing Conservative Students Ideology Conservatism
Liberal conservatismPolitical position Centre-right International affiliation International Democrat Union European affiliation European People's Party European Parliament Group European People's Party Official colours Green Parliament 8 / 179European Parliament 1 / 13Regions:[1] 20 / 205Municipalities:[2] 262 / 2,468Election symbol C Website www.konservative.dk Politics of Denmark
Political parties
ElectionsThe Conservative People's Party (Danish: Det Konservative Folkeparti), also known as Conservatives (Konservative) is a Danish political party.
Contents
History
The party was founded 1915 based mostly on its predecessor, Højre (Right), but also on the Free Conservatives and a moderate faction of Venstre (Left), the liberals.
The party has participated in several coalition governments, but only one Prime Minister (statsminister in Danish), Poul Schlüter, has come from this party, serving from 1982 to 1993. The youth branch of the Conservative People's Party, albeit an independent organisation, is Young Conservatives, the earliest formed youth organisation in Denmark, founded in December 1904, and believed to be one of the oldest in the world[citation needed], preceding the Conservative People's Party by 10 years. The student branch is Conservative Students, likewise an independent organisation, which has branches at all Danish Universities.
In 2001–2011, the Conservative People's Party was the junior partner in a coalition government led by Venstre (literally "left", but in Denmark meaning "Liberals"). The Conservative People's Party is currently led by Lars Barfoed, who served as Justice Minister from 2010 to 2011.
The party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). In the 2004 election for the European Parliament, the party won a seat. The member is currently Bendt Bendtsen, who is a member of the EPP group.
In the 2011 election for the Folketing (Danish national parliament), the Conservative People's Party won 8 seats, ten fewer than it had won in the previous election, and it received 4.9% of the vote. In the 2011 election, it was placed eighth behind Venstre, the Social Democrats, the Danish People's Party, the Socialist People's Party, the Red-Green Alliance and the Liberal Alliance.
Relationship to other parties
Although the Social Democrats are currently speaking of the possibility of a broad centrist coalition including the Conservatives, the Conservatives appear to remain committed to a right-of-centre alliance,[citation needed] working most closely with the liberal Venstre and somewhat less closely with the Danish People's Party. The Conservatives did cooperate with the Social Liberals during its time in power in the 1980s and also cooperated with the centre-left government under Poul Nyrup Rasmussen in the 1990s.
International comparison
The Conservative People's Party is a party that extolls the virtues of capitalism in a land of social democracy, but it is not considered an especially radical party, being quite moderated by the popularity of the welfare state in Denmark. Thus, the Conservative People's Party is somewhat close to the mainstream of European conservatives, with an extra liberal streak. Comparisons could be drawn with the reformists within the Sarkozy government in France or David Cameron's Conservatives in the United Kingdom.
List of leaders
Political leaders
John Christmas Møller 1928–1947 Ole Bjørn Kraft 1947–1955 Aksel Møller 1955–1958 Poul Sørensen 1958–1969 Poul Møller 1969–1971 Erik Ninn-Hansen 1971–1974 Poul Schlüter 1974–1993 Henning Dyremose 1993 Hans Engell 1993–1997 Per Stig Møller 1997–1998 Pia Christmas-Møller 1998–1999 Bendt Bendtsen 1999–2008 Lene Espersen 2008–2011 Lars Barfoed 2011- Party chairmen
Emil Piper 1916-28 Charles Tvede 1928-32 John Christmas Møller 1932-39 Vilhelm Fibiger 1939-48 Halfdan Hendriksen 1948-57 Einar Foss 1957-65 Knud Thestrup 1965-72 Erik Haunstrup Clemmensen 1972-74 Poul Schlüter 1974-77 Ib Stetter 1977-81 Poul Schlüter 1981-93 Torben Rechendorff 1993-95 Hans Engell 1995-97 Per Stig Møller 1997-98 Poul Andreassen 1998-00 Bendt Bendtsen 2000-08 Lene Espersen 2008-11 Youth and student wings
- Young Conservatives (Konservativ Ungdom)
- Conservative Students (Konservative Studerende)
Notable members
- John Christmas Møller - Wartime resistance figure.
- Connie Hedegaard - Appointed as the European Union's first ever European Commissioner for Climate Action in February 2010, Hedegaard was elected to the Danish Parliament as a member for the Conservative People's Party in 1984 at the age of 23, becoming the youngest Danish MP ever at that time. In 1989, Hedegaard became first spokesperson for the Conservative People's Party, but left politics for journalism in 1990.[3] (Retrieved 15:53, 18 March 2011 (UTC))
References
- ^ "AKVA3: Valg til regions råd efter område, parti og stemmer/kandidater/køn". Statistics Denmark. http://www.statistikbanken.dk/akva3. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
- ^ "VALGK3: Valg til kommunale råd efter område, parti og stemmer/kandidater/køn". Statistics Denmark. http://www.statistikbanken.dk/valgk3. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
- ^ http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/hedegaard/about/bio_en.htm
External links
(Danish) Official website
Political parties in Denmark Bracketed numbers indicate numbers of seats in the respective parliaments.The Folketing Venstre (47) · Social Democrats (44) · Danish People's Party (22) · Danish Social Liberal Party (17) · Socialist People's Party (16) · Red-Green Alliance (12) · Liberal Alliance (9) · Conservative People's Party (8) · Siumut (Greenland) (1) · Inuit Ataqatigiit (Greenland) (1) · Social Democratic Party (Faroe Islands) (1) · Union Party (Faroe Islands) (1) ·European
ParliamentSocial Democrats (4) · Venstre (3) · Socialist People's Party (2) · Danish People's Party (2) · Conservative People's Party (1) · People's Movement against the EU (1)Danish parliamentary election, 2007 Parties running in Denmark proper Venstre · Social Democrats · Danish People's Party · Conservative People's Party · Danish Social Liberal Party · Socialist People's Party · Red-Green Alliance · Christian Democrats · New AllianceParties running in the Faroe Islands Parties running in Greenland Candidates for Prime Minister Other notable candidates Categories:- Political parties established in 1915
- Liberal-conservative parties
- Conservative parties in Denmark
- International Democrat Union member parties
- 1915 establishments in Denmark
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