Setback for Trump? Pro-independence party opposing US President’s annexation plans wins big in Greenland elections

The Centre-right Demokraatit Party has won Greenland’s parliamentary elections, held in the shadow of US President Donald Trump’s goal of annexing the island.

The Demokraatit — or the Democratic party –  which favours a gradual approach to independence from Denmark – secured around 30 per cent of the vote, in the election, according to BBC.

Celebrating the victory, Demokraatit party leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen called it a “historic result in Greenland’s political history.”

The vote is, however, not enough for the pro-business Demokraatit Party to single-handedly rule the Arctic territory. The party will, instead, need to partner to form a coalition government. 

Both Demokraatit, and the second-place party, Naleraq favoured independence from Denmark. However, they differed on the pace of change, news agency AP said.

Trump’s desire to control Greenland

Since assuming office for the second term as the US President, Trump has been outspoken about his desire to control Greenland. Earlier this month, he told a joint session of Congress that he thought the US would get it “one way or the other.”

However, Nielsen, who is a former badminton player, has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s suggestion that the US could purchase Greenland. During elections on Tuesday, he told Sky News that he wanted the vote to send “a clear message to him (Trump) that we are not for sale.”

“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders. And we want our own independence in the future. And we want to build our own country by ourselves, not with his hope,” Nielsen had said.

Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq was quoted in an AP report that Nielsen, 33, appeared to be surprised by his party’s gains. The Danish Broadcasting Corporation DR reported that Nielsen said his party would reach out to all other parties to negotiate the future political course for Greenland, the AP said.

“We had not expected that the election would have this outcome,” Nielsen told Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation KNR TV. “We are very happy.”

Where is Greenland?

Greenland – the world’s biggest island, between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans – has been controlled by Denmark, nearly 3,000km (1,860 miles) away, for about 300 years.

While Greenland governs its own domestic affairs, decisions on foreign and defence policy are taken in Copenhagen.

Denmark, a longtime US ally and a founding member of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation or NATO. Five of the six main parties in the election favour independence from Copenhagen, but disagree over the pace with which to reach it.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen congratulated the Democrats on their victory. “We look forward to working with Greenland’s future government,” Frederiksen said in a statement to Danish public broadcaster DR, adding that Copenhagen “will await the results of the negotiations that are now taking place.”

Greenland Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede had called the early vote in February, saying the country needed to be united during a “serious time” unlike anything Greenland has ever experienced.

About 44,000 Greenlanders out of a population of 57,000 were eligible to cast their votes to elect 31 MPs, as well as the local government. Six parties were on the ballot.

The voting took place at 72 polling stations scattered across the vast island.

According to a January poll commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and the Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq, while the majority of Greenlanders support independence, they oppose Trump’s annexation plans.