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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110016-6

5. Electoral practices

The constitution and the Electoral Law of 1953, including all amendments through April 1970, establish the basis and procedure for the conduct of national and local elections.

The constitution grants the central government exclusive authority over the regulation and conduct of Folketing elections. It specifies that they be held at least every 4 years, or before that term has expired if the Monarch (at the Prime Minister's request) so decrees. These elections shall be "general, direct, and secret" and must insure "a proportional representation of the various views of the voters." The Folketing is delegated the responsibility of devising the electoral procedure, including the allotment of the prescribed 175 parliamentary seats in metropolitan Denmark. The constitution stipulates that the allotment must take into account the number of voters and the population density in the electoral subdivisions.

The Electoral Law of 1953 provides for a modified system of proportional representation which assures those political parties meeting minimum electoral requirements parliamentary strength corresponding to their total popular vote. Overrepresentation of rural areas, a sore point of long standing, has been significantly reduced in the postwar period, and then all but eliminated by the local administrative reforms of April 1970, which again redrew the boundaries of the constituencies. Leaving aside the Faroe Islands and Greenland, which form special electoral areas, Denmark is divided for electoral purposes into three zones: Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, the islands, and Jutland. In turn, the zones are divided, respectively, into three, seven, and seven electoral areas. The 17 areas are subdivided into 99 constituencies, so that in each area there are 2 to 10 constituencies. Overall, there are about 2,500 polling stations, thus assuring each voter easy access to the ballot. Nevertheless, absentee voting is permitted. The number of parliamentary seats allotted to the three regions is adjusted on the basis of census figures every 10 years by the Ministry of Interior, which has general jurisdiction over national and local elections. Direct supervision of the balloting is vested in special election committees in each of the 99 constituencies.

All Danish citizens 21 years of age or over who are permanent residents within the kingdom may vote in the Folketing elections. The only exceptions are the mentally incompetent and the morally disqualified, both numerically insignificant groups. A Danish voter need take no initiative to register before an election. The authorities in each municipality prepare an annual list of those eligible to vote.

Any person who is eligible to vote in Folketing elections and has never been convicted of an offense "that renders him unworthy of being a member of the Folketing" is eligible to run for election, provided that he file his candidacy 10 says before election and nominated by at least 25 of the eligible voters of the constituency. The candidate must indicate the party he supports or whether he is independent of parties. Sponsorship by a party is virtually a necessity for election. The Danish voter is party oriented, as is the electoral system, the basis of which is to divide the vote proportionally among the several parties. Political parties decide the constituency in which the candidate will run and the order in which his name is listed on the ballot, thus determining in large measure the candidate's chances of election. To qualify for an election, a party must either be represented in parliament at the time the election is called, or must have registered with the Minister of Interior not later than 14 days before the election, backed by at least as many valid signatures as 1/175 of the vote case in the preceding election. This formula, in theory assuring that the prospective competing splinter party would not be able to win at least one supplementary seat, yielded a total of 16,312 signatures to be necessary for it to run candidates in the September 1971 elections.

According to the electoral law, 135 of the 173 parliamentary seats allotted to Denmark proper are called area seats, and 40 are called supplementary seats. Copenhagen-Frederiksburg has 29 seats (22 area and 7 supplementary); the islands have 64 seats (50 area and 14 supplementary); Jutland has 82 seats (63 area and 19 supplementary). The area seats are decided on the basis of the showing of the parties in the individual constituencies. A party qualifies for supplementary seats if it wins at least one area seat, or if it receives a minimum of 2% of the vote, or if it receives in each of two areas at least as many votes as the average number of valid votes case in the area per area seat. Supplementary seats are apportioned by subtracting the number of seats a party has won in all three areas from the total number of seats to which the party is entitled by its national vote. The larger parties tend to win the greater percentage of area seats directly; the marginal parties normally gain their strength from the supplementary lists. The official vote count and the calculation of seats won is made by the Ministry of Interior, which also compiles a list of non-elected candidates entitled to take their seats as substitutes for members who die or resign.

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110016-6