Liberal Alliance | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Abbreviation | LA I[a] |
| Leader | Alex Vanopslagh |
| Founder | Naser Khader (NA), Anders Samuelsen (LA) |
| Founded | |
| Split from | Social Liberal Party Conservative People's Party |
| Headquarters | Nybrogade 10 3.sal DK-1203København K |
| Youth wing | Liberal Alliance Youth |
| Ideology | Classical liberalism Right-libertarianism |
| Political position | Centre-right toright-wing |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party Group[1] |
| Nordic affiliation | Centre Group |
| Council of Europe affiliation | ALDE-PACE |
| Colours | |
| Folketing | 15 / 179 [d] |
| European Parliament | 1 / 15 |
| Regions[2] | 3 / 205 |
| Municipalities[3] | 42 / 2,436 |
| Election symbol | |
  | |
| Website | |
| liberalalliance.dk | |
TheLiberal Alliance (LA;Danish:[lipəˈʁɑˀlæliˈɑŋsə]) is aclassical liberal andright-libertarianpolitical party in Denmark. The party is a component of thecentre-right bloc inDanish politics.[4][5][6] The party's platform is based uponeconomic liberalism, promotion oftax cuts, reduction ofwelfare programmes, and a critical, oppositional stance towardsEuropean integration.[7][8]
From November 2016 to June 2019, the Liberal Alliance (I) was part of theLars Løkke Rasmussen III Cabinet a three-party coalition government, alongsideLiberal Party (Danish:Venstre) and theConservative People's Party (Danish:Det Konservative Folkeparti). At the2022 Danish general election, the party won 14 seats. It has 15 seats afterPernille Vermund chose to join the party.
The party was founded as the New Alliance (Danish:Ny Alliance)da on 7 May 2007 byMPNaser Khader andMEPAnders Samuelsen from theSocial Liberal Party andGitte Seeberg, aConservative People's Party MEP.[9][10] The party supported the government of theVenstre and Conservative People's Party also endorsed by the Danish People's Party.[9][7] To comply with Danish election law and to be able to stand for elections the New Alliance had to gather 19,185 signatures of supporters on special forms, the number being equivalent to one parliamentary seat in theFolketing. Each completed form had to be certified with thecivil registry offices of municipalities before being collectively handed in to theMinistry of the Interior. While the New Alliance did not take any stand on this offer, the minor partyCentre Democrats offered to let the New Alliance put forward candidates on their lists in the event of an election being called before the New Alliance had finished its nomination process.[11]
On one occasion on 12 May 2007 inHorsens, the three leading figures of the party managed to collect over 2,000 signatures in one day.[12] On 21 May, the party reported they were half-way, having gathered in 10,000 signatures with the requirement being 19,185 (1/175 of the votes cast at thelatest general election).[13] The party completed its nomination process on 29 June by being accepted on the Ministry of the Interior's list of parties eligible stand for election to the Folketing after handing in the 21,516 required signatures and was given the party letter Y.[14][15] Immediately after its creation, the New Alliance had a surge of members. Just one day after the announcement of the party, more than 12,000 had registered on the party website. Three days later, 16,000 had registered and 8,000 of these had paid the membership fee.[16]
On 30 August 2007, the party publicly launched a policy programme.[17] Some of the points in this programme included longer mandatory school attendance, with free food and homework aid; a EuropeanMarshall Plan to theMiddle East; increasing foreign aid to 1% ofGDP; increased focus on prevention in public health, with lower prices on healthy foods; and an exhaustive reform related to immigration and asylum politics.[18] In the2007 general election held on 13 November 2007, the party won 2.8% of the vote, winning 5 of 179 seats in theDanish Parliament.
On 29 January 2008, founding memberGitte Seeberg left the party in protest against the party's status as aright-wing party which conflicted with her own desire to form acentrist party with the goal of mitigating the influence of theDanish People's Party.[19] On 5 February 2008,Malou Aamund, another of the party's members of parliament, left the party and joined the governing partyVenstre.[20] On 24 June 2008,Jørgen Poulsen was excluded from the Liberal Alliance's parliamentary group, although not from the party itself.[21] Under the new leadership ofAnders Samuelsen, the party position moved towards the right, espousingeconomic liberalism andright-libertarian policies,[9] with the party changing its name to the Liberal Alliance on 27 August 2008.[22]
On 1 September 2008, the party regained a third mandate in the parliament as Gitte Seeberg was appointed secretary general of the Danish branch of theWorld Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Her mandate was given to formerdeputy mayor ofSlagelse,Villum Christensen.[23] On 5 January 2009, founding member and party leader Naser Khader left the party, citing that he did not believe in it any longer.[24] At the time,Anders Samuelsen was scheduled to take over leadership of the party later that month. That same day, Villum Christensen expressed doubt on his future in the party.[25] After Khader's exit a 2009 documentary titledDagbog fra midten (Diary from the Centre) documenting the party's founding and eventual collapse was released with scenes detailing internal disagreements between the party's lead members.[26][27][28] Khader eventually joined the Conservatives who he represented as an MP from 2009–2011 and 2015–2021 where he after a period as anindependent left politics for good in 2022.[29]
In the2009 European Parliament election, the party won 0.6% of the vote, leaving the party without representation in the European parliament. In the2011 general election held on 15 September 2011, the party won 5.0% of the vote and 9 seats. WhenMalou Aamund resigned from the Folketing in June 2011, she was replaced by ProfessorNiels Høiby, who took his seat with the Liberal Alliance, taking their contingent in four. In the2014 European Parliament election, the Liberal Alliance received 2.9% of the vote, again failing to return anyMEPs.[30]
In the2015 general election held on 18 June 2015, the party won 7.5% of the vote and 13 seats in the Folketing. In its most successful constituency,Gentofte Municipality, a well-off suburb of Copenhagen, it even scored 17.5% while onBornholm its share of votes was only 4%. Initially, the party did not participate inLars Løkke Rasmussen'sVenstre minority cabinet, but it did lent its parliamentary support to the government.
In late November 2016, it joined a three-party centre-right coalition government alongside Venstre and theConservative People's Party inLøkke Rasmussen's third government. Party leader Anders Samuelsen was appointedMinister of Foreign Affairs whileSimon Emil Ammitzbøll-Bille took the post of Minister of the Economy and Interior. Additional cabinet members of Liberal Alliance wereMerete Riisager (Minister of Education),Mette Bock (Minister of Culture),Ole Birk Olesen (Minister of Transport) andThyra Frank (Minister for Elder Affairs).[31]
At the2019 general election held on 5 June 2019, the party won 2.3% of the vote, losing 9 of its 13 seats in the Folketing.[32] At the same time, party leader Anders Samuelsen failed to get reelected,[33] leading him to resign the following day.[34]
On 9 June 2019,Alex Vanopslagh became the new leader of the Liberal Alliance[35] with MPSimon Emil Ammitzbøll-Bille leaving the LA on 23 October attributing political disagreements as the reason.[36] At the2021 local elections, LA achieved its first ever mayor with LA candidate Emil Blücher becoming mayor inSolrød Municipality.[37][38] During the election campaign to the 2022 general election, the party ran on a campaign calledDu kan godt roughly translating to 'You can' or 'Yes, you can'.[39][40] Furthermore, Vanopslagh managed to acquire a large following on the social media platformTikTok especially engaging younger voters.[41][42][43][44] At that election, the party received its best ever result receiving 7.9% equal to 14 seats making it the joint fifth-largest party in the Folketing alongside theDenmark Democrats.[45] Following the formation of theSVM government, the LA is currently in opposition. On 17 January 2024,Pernille Vermund, the former leader ofNew Right, announced that she had joined the party.[46]
In the2025 Danish local elections, the party enjoyed its best result ever in a local election, gaining a second mayoral title, and increasing its amount of councillors by over 13 times.
Located on thecentre-right[47][48][49] toright-wing[50] of thepolitical spectrum, the Liberal Alliance has been described in ideology asliberal,[9][48][51][52]classical liberal,[47][7][53]libertarian,[4][54][55] andright-wing libertarian.[50][56]
The original New Alliance considered itself acentrist party, "taking the best values ofsocial liberalism andsocial conservatism".[57] By using these two terms, the New Alliance positioned itself equidistant between the former parties of its founding members. Social liberalism is the official ideology of theDanish Social Liberal Party whereas social conservatism is a term sometimes invoked by members of theConservative People's Party who stress the support of thewelfare society such as Liberal Alliance co-founder Gitte Seeberg. In the earliest days of the party's existence, the party was accused ofpopulism orpersonalism, still lacking stances on many topics and based on the popularity ofNaser Khader.[58] After Gitte Seeberg left the party, the "social conservatism" part was dropped and the party name was changed to the Liberal Alliance. However, there were still considerable ideological differences among the two remaining founders and it was not untilNaser Khader was replaced byAnders Samuelsen that the party took on a moreclassical liberal identity.[53] The party has proposed extensiveeconomic liberal reforms, including atax reform replacingprogressive income tax with aflat-rate income tax of 40%, halving rates ofcorporation tax, instigating user charges for public healthcare, abolishing early retirement schemes and reassessing everyone receiving disability benefits.[59]
In 2011, the party opposed the government's entry of Denmark into theEuro Plus Pact and continues to maintain a staunch opposition to Denmark entering theeurozone.[60] On the matter of European Union membership, the party supports a radically reinvented European Union based on free trade and in 2022 called for a "slimmed down" EU based solely on economic partnership while restoring political sovereignty from Brussels to national parliaments.[60] Individual politicians in the Liberal Alliance and its youth wing support Denmark exiting the EU (Danexit), although remaining in the single market.[61] The Liberal Alliance is the only party in Denmark that supportsnuclear power.[62] In 2009, the party voted against subsidies forenvironmentalist renovations without significant tax cuts.[63] In 2011, theRed–Green Alliance and the Liberal Alliance were the only parties whose MPs supported equalising MPs' age of retirement with the rest of the country.[64]
The Liberal Alliance has supported the rights ofsame-sex couples to marry and adopt,[65] helping to pass both into law. The party opposed the reintroduction of border controls in 2011 and supported the dismantling of them later in that year.[66] It supports ending the ban on foreigners owningholiday homes in Denmark.[67] On 30 August 2011, with 5.0% voter support,Simon Emil Ammitzbøll-Bille toldon air toDanish Radio that avote for the Liberal Alliance is a vote for freehashish.[68] Voter support increased to 7.5% following the statement. In parliament, the party supported the reduction of vehicle registration fees.[69]
After 2019, the party has become vocally critical of what it deems as "woke ideology" in universities and public education.[70] The party is opposed to legal gender-change for minors, and to drag shows being shown to children.[71]
The party has had the following leaders since its foundation:
| No. | Portrait | Leader | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Khader, NaserNaser Khader (born 1963) | 7 May 2007 | 5 January 2009 | 1 year, 243 days | [72] |
| 2 | _(cropped).jpg) | Samuelsen, AndersAnders Samuelsen (born 1967) | 5 January 2009 | 6 June 2019 | 10 years, 152 days | [73] |
| 3 | _(cropped).jpg) | Vanopslagh, AlexAlex Vanopslagh (born 1991) | 9 June 2019 | Incumbent | 6 years, 170 days | [74] |
The party received donations from theinvestment bankSaxo Bank (500,000Danish kroner) and the businessmanLars Kolind (100,000 kroner).[citation needed] As of 22 May 2007, the party had seven paid employees and a number of volunteers. The party announced it would not hire additional employees until it had more funds.[75]
On 23 February 2008, ayouth wing to the party was formed by 21 people under the name ofYoung Alliance (Danish:Ung Alliance).[76] When the party changed its name to the Liberal Alliance, the youth branch followed suit changing its name to the Liberal Alliance Youth (Liberal Alliances Ungdom) whose current chairman is Simon Fendinge Olsen.[77]
At its formation, two MEPs joined the party. With the defection ofMEPsGitte Seeberg andAnders Samuelsen, theConservatives and theDanish Social Liberal Party were effectively left without representation in theEuropean Parliament. The twoMEPs did stay in their parliamentary groups (EPP-ED andALDE, respectively). Both resigned from the European Parliament after being elected to the Danish Parliament in November 2007. The Liberal Alliance announced that it would join the ALDE group after futureEuropean Parliament elections.[78] However, the party failed to achieve representation in the European Parliament in both the 2009, 2014 and 2019 European Parliament elections. At the2024 elections,Henrik Dahl, national MP for the party since 2015, was elected to the European Parliament. Before the election, the party had announced that rather than seeking to join the liberalRenew Europe group (previously ALDE), they would apply to join the conservativeEPP group.-
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007[b] | 97,295 | 2.8 (#7) | 5 / 179 |  5 | Opposition |
| 2011 | 176,585 | 5.0 (#7) | 9 / 179 | 4 | Opposition |
| 2015 | 265,129 | 7.5 (#5) | 13 / 179 | 4 | External support(2015–2016) |
| Coalition(2016–2019) | |||||
| 2019 | 82,228 | 2.3 (#10) | 4 / 179 |  9 | Opposition |
| 2022 | 278,656 | 7.9 (#6) | 14 / 179 | 10 | Opposition |
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Benjamin Dickow | 13,796 | 0.59 (#9) | 0 / 13 | New | – |
| 2014 | Christina Egelund | 65,480 | 2.88 (#8) | 0 / 13 |  0 | |
| 2019 | Mette Bock | 60,693 | 2.20 (#10) | 0 / 14 | 0 | |
| 2024 | Henrik Dahl | 170,199 | 6.95 (#8) | 1 / 15 | 1 | EPP |
 |
|
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Liberal Alliance Formerly New Alliance, Liberal Alliance are a center right, classical liberal party formed in 2007 by former members of the Social Liberal Party and the Conservative People's Party.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
