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Danish Leader Stages Comeback in Tight General Election

  • Premier set to retain majority after exit polls indicated loss
  • Frederiksen resigns to pave way for talks on broad government
Mette Frederiksen at the party’s election night event in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Nov. 1.
Mette Frederiksen at the party’s election night event in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Nov. 1.Photographer: Carsten Snejbjerg/Bloomberg
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Denmark’s Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was unexpectedly set to win a majority in a nail-biter general election, putting her on track to secure another four-year term at the helm of the Nordic country.

Frederiksen and her allies in the left-leaning red bloc won 87 seats as all votes had been tallied, after early polling indicated she would falter. That compares with 72 mandates for the right-wing opposition blue bloc and 16 for a newly emerged center party the Moderates, which had been widely expected to become a kingmaker following the vote.