The Alternative (Denmark)


The Alternative is a green political party in Denmark. The party was publicly launched on 27 November 2013 by former Minister of Culture Uffe Elbæk and, the first of whom had been Members of Parliament for the Social Liberal Party. Elbæk was the leader of the party until February 2020, where he stepped down and was succeeded by Josephine Fock. It collaborates with DIEM 25 at the European level.

History

Founding

The Alternative was launched on 27 November 2013 by Uffe Elbæk and Josephine Fock, at a press conference at Christiansborg, the seat of the Folketing, the Danish parliament. Other founders include Niko Grüfeld, Torsten Gejl, and Rasmus Nordqvist. The Alternative supported Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the incumbent prime minister from the Social Democrats, but considered itself both left- and right-wing. The party emphasized the wish for a new political culture, serious climate change mitigation, and entrepreneurship. It did not have a full political agenda, but would instead develop it in "political laboratories" in cooperation with the Danish people. The new party had been planned for two months; Elbæk left the Social Liberal Party on 17 September 2013.
The party’s name was approved by the Danish Electoral Commission under the Ministry of Economy and the Interior, taking effect on 18 December 2013. At the beginning of 2015 the party worked on gathering the 20,260 signatures required to run for Parliament, which it succeeded in doing on 23 February 2015. The party aims to crowdsource policies through what it calls "political laboratories".
The party obtained ballot access for the 2015 general election with the letter Å on the electoral lists on 13 March 2015.

2015 election

In the general election on 18 June 2015, The Alternative received 4.8% of the vote, electing 9 MPs and making it the sixth-largest party in the Folketing. In a famous interview on election night, Elbæk tried to speak, but instead ends up saying "Jamenahrmendedevadvadee … man, this is crazy!"
The party supported the re-election of Social Democrat leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt as Prime Minister. The party was part of the opposition to the third government of Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

2019 election

In the 2019 general election, The Alternative decided support their own leader, Uffe Elbæk, for Prime Minister rather than support the Social Democrat leader, as they had done in 2015, due to what they called insufficient ambition in plans to deal with climate change. They party won a reduced 5 seats and went into opposition after Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen became Prime Minister.

2020 leadership crisis

In December 2019, Elbæk announced that he would stand down as political leader of The Alternative. There were 6 candidates to succeed him, including Rasmus Nordqvist, Josephine Fock and Theresa Scavenius. Only Nordqvist was member of the Folketing, and all 5 members of the Folketing, including Elbæk, supported him. On an extraordinary congress on 1 February 2020, Josephine Fock was elected as the new political leader. Nordqvist subsequently resigned as political spokesperson, and was replaced by Torsten Gejl.
Three weeks later, Information published an article where anonymous sources accused Fock of verbally abusing and in some cases physically shaking party members and employees while she was a member of the Folketing from 2015–2018, during which she was temporarily leader of the parliamentary group. Fock said she did not recognize the descriptions of her, and categorically denied the accusations of shaking people, but said she was not "the best version of herself" in that period. After a meeting with Fock, the central board said they had full confidence in her, while inviting the anonymous sources to contact the central board.
However, Magnus Haslebo, a former press officer in the Folketing, and Fanny Broholm, leader of party's group in Copenhagen city council, publicly supported the accusations of aggressive behavior, with Haslebo saying he had also heard rumors about the shaking. On 28 February, Niko Grünfeld, co-founder and former mayor in Copenhagen, left the party, saying that "the party's soul has been eaten away from within". After Elbæk said he would tell the central board what he knew, the central board said their support for Fock were only provisional, with more talks to be held. On 7 March, a slim majority in the central board gave Fock their support, with 10 voting for and 7 against. Following the decision, the party's local branch in Elbæk's constituency demanded that he publicly express full support of Fock, or they would withdraw their support of Elbæk.
On 9 March, Uffe Elbæk left the party, saying he "no longer recognized" the party he founded. He was followed by three other member of the Folketing: Rasmus Nordqvist, Susanne Zimmer, and Sikandar Siddique. The fifth and last member of the Folketing, Torsten Gejl, decided to stay after some days of thought. Political analysts called the departures the death of The Alternative. In her reactions, Fock said she was saddened by the departures, but that it was a "new beginning" for The Alternative.

Parliamentary representation

2015

The members of Parliament from 2015 and their spokesperson assignments:
The following members were elected to the Folketing in 2019

Parliament (Folketing">The Folketing">Folketing)

European Parliament