Danish Folketing election, 1947

Danish Folketing election, 1947

28 October 1947

All 150 seats to the Folketing 76 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Hans Hedtoft Knud Kristensen Ole Bjørn Kraft Party Social Democrats Venstre Conservative People's Last election 48 seats, 32.8% 38 seats, 23.4% 26 seats, 18.2% Seats won 57 49 17 Seat change 9 11 9 Popular vote 834,089 574,895 259,324 Percentage 40.0% 27.6% 12.4%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jørgen Jørgensen Aksel Larsen Oluf Pedersen Party Social Liberals Communists Justice Last election 11 seats, 8.4% 18 seats, 12.5% 3 seats, 1.9% Seats won 10 9 6 Seat change 1 9 3 Popular vote 144,206 141,094 94,570 Percentage 6.9% 6.8% 4.5%

Prime Minister before election Knud Kristensen Venstre Prime Minister-elect Hans Hedtoft Social Democrats

Folketing elections were held in Denmark on 28 October 1947,^[1] except in the Faroe Islands where they were held on 18 February 1948. The Social Democratic Party remained the largest in the Folketing, with 57 of the 150 seats. Voter turnout was 85.8% in Denmark proper and 60.1% in the Faroes.^[2]

Electoral system changes

Following legislation in December 1947 the representation of the Faroe Islands constituency was increased from one seat to two.^[3] The two seats were elected using proportional representation with the D'Hondt method.^[3]

Results

Denmark

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Social Democratic Party	834,089	40.0	57	+9
Venstre	529,066	25.4	46	+8
Conservative People's Party	259,324	12.4	17	–9
Danish Social Liberal Party	144,206	6.9	10	–1
Communist Party of Denmark	141,094	6.8	9	–9
Justice Party of Denmark	94,570	4.5	6	+3
Capital Venstre^[a]	45,829	2.2	3	New
Danish Unity	24,724	1.2	0	–4
Schleswig Party	7,464	0.4	0	New
Independents	3,775	0.2	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	4,874	–	–	–
Total	2,089,015	100	148	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

^a The Copenhagen branch of Venstre ran as a separate party in order to exploit the electoral law and was able to win compensatory seats. Following the election the other parties grouped together to push for changes to the system which were passed in 1948.^[4]

Popular vote
A			40.02%
D			27.58%
C			12.44%
B			6.92%
K			6.77%
E			4.54%
R			1.19%
Others			0.54%

Faroe Islands

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
People's Party	4,135	42.7	1	0
Union Party	2,754	28.4	1	+1
Social Democratic Party	1,990	20.5	0	0
Self-Government Party	809	8.4	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	34	–	–	–
Total	9,722	100	2	+1
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p524 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p540
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p541
4. Nohlen & Stöver, p506