Municipal and regional elections in Denmark were held on November 18, 2025—traditionally on the third Tuesday of November, marking each four-year cycle. The Social Democrats, who had held the post of lord mayor of Copenhagen without interruption since 1938 and secured 28.4% in the previous elections in 2021, this time faced one of their most significant setbacks in decades. Support fell across the country, and in the capital, for the first time in more than a century, the city will be led by someone outside their ranks.
Mette Frederiksen acknowledged that the drop in support for the Social Democrats was “greater than we had expected” after the party suffered major losses nationwide and, for the first time in more than a century, ceded control of Copenhagen.
Although the Social Democrats remained Denmark’s largest municipal party, their result on Tuesday fell by more than five percentage points—from 28.4% in 2021 to 23.2%. At the same time, support for the far-right Danish People’s Party rose from 4.09% to 5.9%.
In Copenhagen, Frederiksen’s close friend Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, widely seen as the prime minister’s personally chosen candidate for lord mayor, failed to secure the votes she needed.
The post of lord mayor, it was announced, will be taken by Sisse Marie Welling of the Green Left (Socialist People’s Party, SF), who won 17.9%. “We have made history at city hall,” she said. The Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) remained the capital’s largest party with 22.1%.
After the historic defeat, Frederiksen appeared subdued: “We anticipated a decline, but it seems it was greater than expected. We will consider what lies behind it.”
Frederiksen attributed the drop in popularity to rising food prices and an imbalance between urban and rural areas. She again highlighted the issue of “crime committed by people coming from outside,” reinforcing her hard-line rhetoric on migration.
The Social Democrats lost ground not only in Copenhagen but also in traditionally loyal municipalities such as Frederikshavn, Køge, Fredericia, Gladsaxe and Holstebro.
Although the left performed more weakly in Copenhagen than expected—forecasts had pointed to a comfortable lead—the results mean that, for the first time in more than a century, the city will not be governed by a Social Democrat. The party had held the post continuously since the introduction of the current system in 1938.
On Wednesday morning, Rosenkrantz-Theil conceded defeat: she will not become lord mayor after the party’s support fell from 17.2% in 2021 to 12.7%. “I did everything I could,” she said. “Copenhagen is worth fighting for, and I knew from the outset that I was taking a risk. I was neither expected nor embraced.”
Analysts attribute the Social Democrats’ failure in the capital to voter fatigue with the prime minister’s tough line on integration and migration—a stance that has partly inspired the UK’s recently unveiled asylum and migration framework.
At the national level, Peter Thisted Dinesen, professor of political science at the University of Copenhagen, described the outcome as “a serious loss for the Social Democrats across the country.” In his view, “it is a painful blow for the party, which is losing several key strongholds, including Copenhagen. Frederiksen’s position as prime minister is unlikely to be threatened, but this will inevitably prompt a debate about what went wrong.”
He added: “Elsewhere, there are gains for the Socialist People’s Party (SF), the Liberal Alliance (LA) and the Denmark Democrats (Dd), who took part in municipal elections for the first time. Venstre (V) and the Conservatives lost votes but increased their number of mayoral posts.”