Christian Democrats (Denmark)

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Christian Democrats
Leader Stig Grenov
Founded April 1970
Headquarters Allégade 24, 1.
2000 Frederiksberg
Youth wing Young Christian Democrats
Ideology Christian democracy
Political position Centre
International affiliation Centrist Democrat International
European affiliation European People's Party
European Parliament group No MEPs
Colours Orange
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European Parliament
0 / 13
Election symbol
Politics of Denmark
Political parties

The Christian Democrats (Danish: Kristendemokraterne) are a political party in Denmark. The party was founded in 1970 to oppose the liberalization of restrictions on pornography and the legalization of abortion.[1][2] It was known as the Christian People's Party (Kristeligt Folkeparti) from April 1970 to 2003.[3] Originally, the party was not considered part of the European Christian democratic tradition, and it was better known as a religious conservative party.[4]



Since its inception, the party has enjoyed an intermittent presence in the Parliament of Denmark, rarely winning much more than the two percent minimum required to gain seats under Denmark's proportional representation system, and frequently falling below the threshold, as happened most recently in the 2007 and 2011 parliamentary elections. Despite its small size, the party has served in a number of coalition governments. From 1982 to 1988, it was in coalition with the Liberal Party and Conservative People's Party; from 1993 to 1994, it served in government with the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals and the Centre Democrats.[2]

From 2002 to 2005, the party was led by Marianne Karlsmose. The name of the party was changed to the Christian Democrats in 2003. In October 2005, the party elected Bodil Kornbek [1] as its new chairman. Her attempt to introduce a more secular centre-left profile had some success in the beginning, but in the 2007 and 2011 parliamentary elections, the party received no seats. In October 2008, Kornbek was replaced by Bjarne Hartung Kirkegaard, who represents its more rightist and religious wing.

In 2010, the Christian Democrats regained parliamentary representation when the former Conservative People's Party member Per Ørum Jørgensen joined the party. Since he was not formerly known for having expressed particularly religion-based opinions, these events once more softened the religious character of the party.




Further reading[edit]

  • Madeley, John T.S. (2004). Steven Van Hecke; Emmanuel Gerard, eds. Life at the Northern Margin: Christian Democracy in Scandinavia. Christian Democratic Parties in Europe Since the End of the Cold War (Leuven University Press). pp. 217–241. ISBN 90-5867-377-4. 


  1. ^ Isabelle Engeli; Christoffer Green-Pedersen; Lars Thorup Larsen (7 August 2012). Morality Politics in Western Europe: Parties, Agendas and Policy Choices. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-230-30933-3. 
  2. ^ a b Åsa Bengtsson; Kasper Hansen; Ólafur Þ Harõarson; Hanne Marthe Narud, Henrik Oscarsson (15 November 2013). The Nordic Voter: Myths of Exceptionalism. ECPR Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-907301-50-6. 
  3. ^ André Krouwel (1 December 2012). Party Transformations in European Democracies. SUNY Press. p. 298. ISBN 978-1-4384-4481-9. 
  4. ^ Cook, Chris; Francis, Mary (1979). The first European elections: A handbook and guide. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333-26575-0. 

External links[edit]