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Greenland’s center-right Demokraatit Party won the most votes in a surprise victory, but the Naleraq party, which is more open to negotiations with the U.S. president, also saw a surge in support.
By Scott Roxborough
Europe Bureau Chief
A pro-independence, sharply anti-Trump party has won a surprise victory in elections in Greenland.
The center-right Demokraatit Party, which has pushed for Greenland to gain independence from colonial power Denmark but rejects U.S. President Trump’s goal of taking control of the island, took nearly 30 percent of the vote, compared to just 9 percent in the election four years ago.
Demokraatit leader Jens-Friederik Nielsen said the result should send a clear message to Trump that Greenland is not for sale.
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“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders,” Nielsen told Sky News. “And we want our own independence in the future. And we want to build our own country by ourselves.”
Trump’s interest in Greenland — last week he told a joint session of Congress the U.S. would get the island “one way or the other” — has put a global spotlight on the local elections. The country passed a law last month banning foreign political donations over fears about potential interference in this week’s vote.
Naleraq, a nationalist party that is pushing for rapid independence from Denmark, also saw a surge in support, coming in second with nearly 25 percent of the vote, more than double the 12 percent it won in 2021. Some members of Naleraq have said they are open to negotiations with the U.S. government.
The two parties of the current governing coalition, Inuit Ataqatigiit and Siumut, saw their support slump.
Nielsen will now be charged with trying to form a new coalition government.
Greenland is an autonomous and self-governing region of Denmark, which colonized the island 300 years ago. Denmark still exercises control over Greenland’s foreign and defense policy. The island, with a population of just 56,000 people, straddles the strategically important region between the U.S. and Russia and is home to vast supplies of rare earth minerals needed to make everything from mobile phones to renewable energy technology.
Opinion polls indicate that most Greenlanders support independence but show little interest in becoming part of the U.S. The U.S. has maintained a military base — Pituffik Space Base, formally Thule Air Base — on Greenland since 1951.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen congratulated the Demokraatit party on its victory, telling Danish broadcaster DR that the future Greenlandic government would likely have to “deal with massive pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the Danish government would await the results of coalition negotiations.
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