Centrum-rechtse coalitie wint Deense verkiezingen (en)

The Danish centre-right government lead by Anders Fogh Rasmussen will continue in office after the Social Democrat opposition scored the poorest result in decades in Tuesday's (8 February) general elections.

The liberal-conservative government will however continue to be dependent on support from the right-wing anti-immigration Danish Peoples Party, which is now the third biggest party in Denmark, (13,2 per cent).

The Danish Social Democrat party leader, Mogens Lykketoft, late on Tuesday admitted defeat and announced he would step back as party leader after his party had the worst election since 1953, getting just 25,9 per cent of the votes.

Mr Lykketoft was elected party leader in 2002 following a bitter party row with MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. As possible new top-figures of the party are mentioned MEP Henrik Dam Kristensen and political spokesman of the party Frank Jensen.

Despite losing four seats in the parliament, Mr Fogh Rasmussen added a new record to his partys history in becoming the first Liberal prime minister to get re-elected in 99 years.

The real winners of Tuesdays elections were the Danish Social-Liberal Party, which went from nine to 16 seats.

With a relaxed immigration policy, the party gained massively in Copenhagen and was the biggest party in several parts of the capital.

One of the major tasks for Mr Fogh Rasmussen in his new term of government will be to pass the European Constitution through a referendum.

The issue never became a central theme in the election campaign and in the new Parliament only two parties will campaign against the Constitution: the Danish Peoples Party on the right and the Danish Red-Green Alliances on the left, holding together 30 seats of a total of 179.