The political parties are not mentioned in the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, which is the framework of the political system of Denmark. But the parties do, nevertheless, play an im-portant role in political life. The rules of the game and the conditions of politics are in Denmark, like in many other countries, more than just the written basic rules of the Constitutional Act. Tradition, practical considerations and the general development of society greatly contribute to laying down the conditions of political life.

What is a political party ?
A political party is a group of people sharing the same basic beliefs. The persons concerned have joined hands in order to try to influence political developments. There are several ways of doing this. They can put up for election to the Folketing, the municipal councils or the county councils and thus exert a direct influence there. But a party can also act as a pressure group outside the elected bodies e.g. by making interventions in the newpapers, by holding meetings or by bringing their points of view to the fore of the public in other ways.

Parties dating back to the last century
When the Constitutional Act was adopted in 1849, Denmark got her first democratic Parliament, the Rigsdag, consisting of the Folketing and the Landsting. At that time, there were no parties. In 1849, the people was not expected to express any views by means of parties but via individuals who were elected solely on the basis of their personal qualities and points of view. Not everyone could stand for the Rigsdag. Women were excluded from so doing. And so was about a fourth of the male population over the age of thirty. The men concerned were mainly servants and paupers.
Little by little, the Members who shared the same attitudes began to form clubs in which they met and held discussions. At the beginning, the clubs were not organized in any stable way but they gradually firmed up and they formed the basis of the parties which appeared around 1870. The Conservative and Liberal Parties both originated in such clubs in the Rigsdag i.e. in coalitions of Members who had already been elected. At the beginning, the two parties functioned only here. Only later did local branches occur in the form of caucuses.
Contrary to the Right Wing Party and the United Liberal Party (as the parties were originally called), the Social Democratic Party was formed outside the Rigsdag. It happened in 1871, and from the beginning the party established a strong party organization. At first, the main task was to get as many Members as possible. It was only during the 1880s that the party was able to obtain a few seats in the Folketing.
The social development at the end of the last century led to a sharper division of society. Each of the three parties mentioned above was attached to a given occupational group or class. The Right Wing Party to landed proprietors and civil servants, the United Liberal Party to farmers and the Social Democratic Party to workers. Moreover, it can be said for both the United Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party that they were part of a more comprehensive organization or movement, the cooperative movement and the workers' movement respectively. Around 1920, these parties and movements were very important to the organization of Danish society.

Parties in the present century
Some of the parties which have been formed in the present century have been formed due to a parliamentary group having been split up. In 1905, the Social Liberals seceded from the Liberals. In
1959, the Socialist People's Party was formed after a disruption of the Communist Party. And in 1967, the Left Wing Socialists appeared in the form of a breakaway group of the Socialist People's Party. In 1995, the Progress Party split into two sections. The breakway group formed the Danish People's Party.
In the present century, other parties have been formed by a group of people joining hands either in order to protest against a given matter or because they held the same view of society. Such an organization which has been formed outside the Folketing has subsequently tried to be elected to the Folketing.
The Unity List - the Red-Green Alliance originated in a non-parliamentary, electoral cooperation between the Socialist Workers' Party, the Left Wing Socialists and the Communist Party but has today developed into a real member organization which is independent of the founding parties.
Thus individual matters have led to the forming of parties such as the Christian People's Party and the Progress Party. In the former case, it was primarily the Act which allowed the sale of porno-graphic pictures and the relatively free access to have an abortion that became the decisive factor. In the latter case, it was the heavy taxes. Both parties have, at a later date, formulated a policy pertaining to most areas of social life. However, there are also instances in which parties during their entire lifetime have concentrated only on individual matters e.g. the Pensioners' Party and the Green Party. Finally, there are parties and local party lists the candidates of which only run for municipal elections and not for the Folketing.
In order to stand for Parliament, the parties shall either have been elected to Parliament beforehand or have collected a number of signatures corresponding to 1/175 of the votes cast at the latest election. In 1998, the number of votes required was 19.015.
It is no easy matter to get all the signatures. It is not enough to go out into the street and get people to sign a registration form. Since 1989 an active effort is required on the part of the person signing the registration form. When the signature has been approved by the national registration office, the registration form is sent back to the signer who shall then see to it that the registration form is forwarded to the political party in question. And a lot of people do not get round to actually doing this.

Composition of the parties
The persons making up the Danish political parties are individual persons, not occupational organizations, trade unions or the like. On the other hand, the individual parties try to get as many members as possible. Therefore, the Danish parties are often referred to as mass parties.
As a main rule, the parties do not make special demands on the persons who wish to become members. But the candidate in question shall, of course, obey the rules of the party, agree to and be loyal to the party programme. And then, of course he or she cannot be a member of different parties at the same time.
All members join a local branch or caucus. The caucuses contribute to propagating the points of view of the party among the general public i.a. by getting followers. At the same time, the caucuses back party representatives in municipalities as well as in the Folketing. The big parties have local branches in all municipalities, the small parties have branches in the various counties and sometimes only in certain parts of the country. All the local branches together make out the national organization of the party. If the party is represented in the Folketing, these members make out an independent group, the parliamentary group, the members of which currently hold meetings on the work going on in the Folketing.
The supreme body of the parties is the national congress at which representatives of all levels of the party gather in order to discuss the general political lines. The frequency for holding such congresses differs from one part to another. They are typically held once every second year. The national congress elects an executive committee to deal with the decisions which are to be made between each congress.
In the Social Democratic Party, the supreme body is called the "Congress". In the Conservative Party, the supreme body is referred to as the "National Council". The Unity List - the Red-Green Alliance prefers the designation "Annual Meeting". The other parties refer to their supreme bodies in terms of "National Congresses".

Party programmes
Most political parties do their work on the basis of a party programme. There are two different types of programmes i.e. programmes made on grounds of principle and working programmes. The former contain the general and fundamental beliefs whereas the latter is more specific and can be considered a working tool in the daily work. The working programme accounts for the future political plans of the party within a specific number of areas relating to society.
There are big differences as to how many programmes the individual parties have and as to how often they are revised. The Social Democratic Party, at regular intervals, adopts programmes made on grounds of principle as well as general working programmes. Other parties have a general programme made on grounds of principle and a number of working programmes on various subjects. The Centre Democrats do not have a proper party programme but carry out their work in the light of a wide objects clause. The party currently publishes leaflets and minor publications giving their attitudes to various questions. The attitudes of the parties are also expressed in other places than in the party programmes e.g. by means of newspaper articles, TV flashes, electoral material, statements made from the rostrum of the Folketing etc.

Laying down the attitudes of the party
The party programme will be adopted by the supreme body of the party in question. As a rule, this results from a comprehensive debate at all levels of the party i.e. in the local branches, the executive committee, the party headquarters or in the parliamentary group.
Some parties set up a programme committee, the members of which are to make a proposal for a new party programme. In other parties, it is the parliamentary group the members of which suggest drafts for changes to the party programme. On the other hand, the working programmes are often adopted by the executive committee or by the parliamentary group.
The supreme body or executive committee of a party can adopt statements in which the party takes a stand on a given case or the progress of a matter. Such a statement may either be of a general nature or closely linked to a specific subject. In both cases, it carries the same weight as a statement entered in the programme.
The parties have different ways of proceeding in the question as to who decides the politics of the party in the Folketing. In some parties, it is the members of the parliamentary groups themselves. In other parties it is the national organization and/or the executive committee. In the Socialist People's Party, it is the executive committee which makes the decisions as opposed to the parliamentary group. As for the Conservatives and the Centre Democrats, it is the parliamentary group which alone lays down the politics in the Folketing.

Deviations from the party line
Section 56 in the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark lays down that "The Members of the Folketing shall be bound solely by their own consciences and not by any directions given by their electors". Nevertheless, Members are expected to follow the line which the party has agreed on. There are different practices in the various parties as to how big deviations will be accepted. Generally speaking, most parties find that one should also allow for personal beliefs. But on the other hand, a Member will rarely be allowed to speak publicly in favour of opinions which differ too much from those of the party.
However, in certain sensitive issues, the parties give the Members a free hand. This means that it is accepted that Members do not vote in the same way but can vote according to their belief. The Members are, however, not given a free hand if this means that the Government will be reduced to a minority and will consequently have to resign.

Parties and electoral system
In the Constitutional Act, the parties are not mentioned. However, the Parliamentary Election Act of 1915 introduces the parties into the general elections. The principle behind the Danish electoral system is the method of proportional representation. This method means that a party is represented in the Folketing, proportionally to the number of votes obtained by the party on a nation-wide basis and not only proportionally to the number of votes which the candidate of the party has obtained in the constituency in which he or she runs for election.
The country has been divided into 14 county constituencies and 3 large constituencies which elect the candidates for 135 of the seats in the Folketing. The 40 supplementary seats are distributed on the basis of the number of votes obtained by the parties nationally and they contribute to ensuring that the votes of the party are divided as fairly as possible. In order to have a share in the supplementary seats, the parties shall i.a. obtain at least the minimum percentage i.e. two per cent of the votes necessary for a party to be represented in Parliament (the threshold rule). This means that the points of view of the party must be shared by at least two per cent of the voters corresponding to four seats in the Folketing.

Selection of candidates
The majority of candidates standing for Parliament at a general election stand as representatives of a political party. Out of the 1.127 candidates who stood for Parliament in 1998, only 12 stood outside the parties. While candidates who run for a party shall only be approved by the party in question, candidates who are not affiliated to a party have to fulfil an additional number of conditions. Firstly, candidates shall be supported by at least 150 voters in the nomination district. Secondly, they shall obtain at least one out of 135 constituency seats in order to be elected to the Folketing.This requirement is fulfilled only very infrequently. Since the 1930s, only Mr Jacob Haugaard has succeeded. At the 1994 general election, Mr. Haugaard obtained 23.253 personal votes. In order to draw a comparison, it can be mentioned that Mr Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Prime Minister (Social Democratic Party), obtained 23.983 personal votes at the same election.
The parties can choose to nominate their candidates either by district or by parallel nomination.
If the former method is applied, the candidate gets all the votes which the party in qustion has obtained in the district, plus the personal votes which he/she has obtained in the various nomination districts comprised by the county constituency. This method may be supplemented by nomination by party list, in which the names of the candidates have to be put down in order of priority. The selection of candidates is often made by taking a ballot among the members. Only a violent reaction on the part of the electors can change the order on the party list.
The method of parallel nomination does not favour some members rather than others. The difference between the latter and nomination by district is that votes cast for the party in question are distributed on all the candidates in the light of their personal votes. A majority of the parties make use of this method of nomination. But the Socialist People's Party has often entered a party list.
Most parties leave it to the local branches or to the caucuses in the various districts to enter the party candidate who will stand for Parliament.

Number of Members and turnout at elections
It is the party Members who decide who will stand for Parliament, for county councils and for municipal councils. The rules of the electoral system pertaining to nomination date back to the time when a major part of the population was organized in a party. But these rules have been maintained irrespective of the fact that the number of Members has gone down considerably in recent decades. Thus today it is about 9 per cent of the voters who decide for whom one may vote at elections.
The number of people who are actually members of the party for which they vote on election day is on the decrease. It is especially the "new" parties which have a low organization percentage. In 1994, the Centre Democrats had an organization percentage of 1½. The percentage of the Progress Party as well as of the Socialist People's Party was three. The so-called "old" parties managed better. The corresponding number for e.g. the Liberals was about 11 per cent.
Compared to many other countries, Denmark can boast a high turnout at general elections. Eighty to ninety per cent of the electors vote and at municipal elections, the percentage is about
seventy. Further information about the parties and their beliefs

Liberals
30 Søllerødvej
2840 Holte
Tel.: + 45 45 80 22 33
Fax: + 45 45 80 38 30
E-mail: venstre@venstre.dk
www.venstre.dk

Social Democrats
Danasvej 7
1910 Frederiksberg C.
Tel. +45 7230 0800
Fax: + 45 72 300 850
E-mail: info@socdem.dk
www.socialdemokratiet.dk

Danish People's Party
Christiansborg
1240 København K
Tel.: + 45 33 37 51 99
Fax: + 45 33 37 51 91
E-mail: df@ft.dk
www.danskfolkeparti.dk

Conservatives
Press Service
Christiansborg
1240 Copenhagen K
Tel.: + 45 33 37 43 88 / + 45 33 12 02 66
Fax: + 45 33 93 14 31
E-mail: konservative@konservative.dk
www.konservative.dk

Socialist People's Party
Christiansborg
1240 Copenhagen K
Tel.: + 45 33 37 44 91
Fax: + 45 33 14 70 10
E-mail: sf@sf.dk
www.sf.dk

Social Liberals
Christiansborg
1240 Copenhagen K
Tel.: + 45 33 37 47 47
Fax: + 45 33 13 72 51
E-mail: radikale@radikale.dk
www.radikale.dk

Unity List - Red-Green Alliance
24 Studiestræde
1455 Copenhagen K
Tel.: + 45 33 93 33 24 / 33 37 50 50
Fax: + 45 33 32 03 72
E-mail: enhedslisten@enhedslisten.dk
www.enhedslisten.dk