Queen Margrethe has begun the process of forming a new Government for Denmark, following recent elections.
The Danish monarch met outgoing Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at Amalienborg Palace for the traditional summary of electoral results and Parliamentary prospects, before the PM offered the resignation of her government, which was accepted.
However, it seems pretty clear that Ms Frederiksen will soon be making her way back to the Palace in that same role; her party, the Social Democrats, got the most votes in the election, and the left-leaning coalition she guided won a majority of seats in parliament, meaning that she is expected to become Prime Minister again.
However, her political path forward seems a little more complicated; the left wing bloc won the majority of Parliament seats, but she campaigned on a promise to create a coalition across the political spectrum.
One of her most likely allies should she choose to build a broader coalition is rumoured to be former centre-right predecessor, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who held the role of Prime Minister from 2015 to 2019.
Now Frederiksen faces the choice of either walking back her promise of a broad alliance, and risk upsetting the more moderate right-wing parties who had also campaigned on the same topics, or create a broad coalition and face the risk of upsetting the more left-leaning side of the left bloc, as well as the concrete danger of political instability.
Queen Margrethe also began her consultations with party leaders on the same day. They started to be welcomed at Amalienborg Palace at 2pm.
Not very much is known about the contents of those consultations, but, seen as though 12 parties managed to get enough votes to gain seats in Parliament, it seems logical to expect a longer process altogether.
As is her constitutional duty, Queen Margrethe is expected to call the leader of the winning party or coalition and, following consultations to verify the viability of an executive, ask them to form a new Government in her name.
Once Ms Frederiksen, or whomever the new Danish PM will be, has taken their place, Her Majesty will start regularly hosting State Councils and audiences to keep up to date with current affairs and the progression of parliamentary proceedings.
