Greenland’s pro-business Demokraatit opposition party won Tuesday’s closely-watched parliamentary election with 29.9% of the vote, according to official results.
US President Donald Trump’s idea to annex the territory has thrown an international spotlight on the election and raised questions about the island’s future security as the United States, Russia and China vie for influence in the Arctic.
All the dominant parties in Greenland, a Danish autonomous region rich in oil and gas, agree on the desire for independence from Denmark.
Demokraatit takes a slower approach to the question of independence that has loomed over this election, according to Reuters.
The ousted ruling democratic socialist party, Inuit Ataqatigiit, view independence it as a long-term project requiring years of negotiation with Denmark and further economic improvement.
The main opposition party Naleraq – which has campaigned to sever ties with Denmark more quickly and wants to pursue a defense agreement with the US – fell behind in the polls, winning 24.5% of the vote, results showed.
Denmark ruled Greenland as a colony until 1953, when the island achieved greater powers of self-governance. Then, in 2009, it gained more powers pertaining to minerals, policing and courts of law. But Denmark still controls security, defense, foreign and monetary policy. Greenland also benefits from Denmark’s European Union and NATO memberships.
Greenland holds elections every four years, with 31 seats in parliament at stake. With Tuesday’s results, the previous two-party coalition – Inuit Ataqatigiit and the Siumut party – is expected to lose their parliamentary majority, Reuters reported. They won a combined 36.1% of the vote, down from 66.1% in 2021.
Trump rhetoric
In almost every election in recent years, Greenland’s politicians have promised to take steps to achieve autonomy. None of them have offered a concrete timeline, though.
But Trump’s aggressive stance has actually given the Arctic territory more bargaining power with Denmark, analysts say, and kicked the independence movement into high gear.
A poll in January, commissioned by Danish and Greenlandic newspapers, found that 85% of Greenlanders did not want to become part of the US, with nearly half saying Trump’s interest was a threat, Reuters reported.
“I strongly believe that we will very soon start to live a life more based on who we are, based on our culture, based on our own language, and start to make regulations based on us, not based on Denmark,” said Naleraq candidate Qupanuk Olsen, according to Reuters.
While Greenlandic politicians have repeatedly signaled that they’re uninterested in annexation, they are open to deals with the United States for rare earth mining, expanding tourism, stronger diplomatic connections and other investments.
The United States already has a military base in the Arctic Circle in far northwest Greenland.