to updateIt was announced
Morten Messerschmidt is the new leader of the Danish People's Party. Despite Messerschmidt's election victory, approximately 40% of voters did not support him, and several of his party colleagues have announced they will leave the Danish People's Party if he becomes the new leader.
The new president of TV2 commented that he did not expect his colleagues to do that.
And that it would make the party attractive for them to stay, something that one of the candidates who lost in today's election laughed at, saying about Messerschmitt that he might say one thing and mean another.
Amid significant media attention, the Danish People's Party (DF) began its extraordinary annual meeting about an hour ago to elect a new leader from among three candidates: Morten Messerschmitt, Martin Henriksen, and Merete Dia Larsen. Former Minister for Immigration and Integration and Member of Parliament Inger Støjberg was among the names being considered for the party leadership. This comes after her expulsion from the Liberal Party (Venstre) – after two decades of membership – following the well-known case of separating refugee spouses, for which she was recently sentenced to 60 days in prison. Following the verdict, she declined invitations from some DF members to join their party. The Danish People's Party is known for its hardline stance on refugees and immigrants.
The party's policy of "opposing the Islamization of Denmark"“
Regarding the party’s policy on foreigners and immigrants from Islamic backgrounds, the party previously adopted a proposal to stop the “Islamization of Denmark,” which included provisions such as banning the construction of mosques, prohibiting the hijab in schools and government institutions, and activating Christian missionary activities among Muslim children, among others.
Today's meeting
Regarding today's meeting, party members began heading to the Herning Hall from 11 a.m., where the meeting actually started with an opening speech by the outgoing party leader, Kristian Thulesen Dahl.
The vote and announcement of the new party leader are planned to take place before 4 o'clock.
Today’s meeting was preceded by tension between the most prominent figures in the Danish People’s Party, as outgoing president Kristian Thulesen Dahl told local media that he criticized the party’s founder and former leader Pia Kjærsgaard, saying that she had interfered too much in the party’s leadership during his tenure. Pia Kjærsgaard denied this and commented that it was not fair.
The party's popularity has declined.
It is worth noting that the outgoing party leader, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, received 8.7% of votes in the last parliamentary elections, and the number of party seats in parliament decreased from 37 to 16. The popularity of the Danish People's Party (DF) also fell to its lowest level in the current millennium, according to a poll conducted by Voxmeter for Ritzau last year. According to the poll, the Danish People's Party received only 5% of votes, which is considered the lowest in the current millennium.
During the past year, the party faced instances of internal disputes, one of which concerned the ban on religious circumcision of male children, which the party supported. This led to MP Mary Crarrup announcing that she would not run again in the next election in protest against her party's support for the ban.
A historic success in 2015
The Danish People's Party previously achieved a historic party-wide success in 2015 when it garnered around one-fifth of the vote and achieved a result of 21.1% of votes.
