Social Democrats tipped to hold on to power in Denmark following poll

Denmark's governing Social Democrats look set to retain power after the general election that took place on Tuesday, but who will head the government is less clear, with the future of incumbent Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen potentially resting in the hands of one of her predecessors, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, and his new Moderate party.

Frederiksen, who has been in office since 2019, called a general election in early October after her minority government lost the support of one of its leftist coalition partners, amid a scandal relating to the culling of the country's mink population in 2020.

Denmark has Europe's biggest fur industry, but because of fears over the spread of the novel coronavirus, all its animals were destroyed, after which an investigatory panel ruled that comments Frederiksen had made to justify the cull were "grossly misleading".

Although she had previously been highly regarded for her handling of the pandemic and escaped impeachment over this incident, her standing has never recovered.

Currently, Danish politics includes 14 different parties, with Frederiksen's left-leaning alliance having around 49 percent of votes, and the right coalition recording around 41 percent, but neither looks likely to clinch the 90 seats required for a majority in the country's 179-seat parliament, leaving Rasmussen as the potential kingmaker.

Since its formation in June, his new party has become the country's third largest, and Rasmussen has yet to give his backing to either side. With the party predicted win around 10 percent of the votes, he could have a position of huge influence.

Moderate Party member Jakob Engel-Schmidt was quoted by The Guardian newspaper as saying that it was "ready to work with the candidate who will facilitate the broadest cooperation around the center to implement necessary reforms".

But Danish political commentator Martin Agerup told the AFP news agency Rasmussen was a "ferocious" negotiator and might even have his eye on a third term as prime minister himself, having previously held the post from 2009 to 2011, and again from 2015 to 2019.

"He can basically manoeuvre until somebody gets scared enough to point to him and say: 'Look, yes, you could be prime minister'," Agerup explained.

Other contenders for the top job include Conservative leader Soren Pape Poulsen, and Jakob Ellemann-Jensen of the Liberals.

The tough stance on immigration taken by the mainstream parties means the far-right Danish People's party has been drained of support, but a new party formed by former Liberal immigration minister Inger Stojberg could also prove significant both in the parliamentary election and in the race to be the next prime minister.

Less than a year ago, she was jailed for two months for ordering the illegal separation of refugee couples and is now looking to make a parliamentary comeback, having served her term, and with a profile and policies that would appeal to much of Denmark's population who live outside big cities.