A pro-independence political party won parliamentary elections in Greenland on Tuesday, suggesting that residents there are eager to break free from Denmark but sidestep recent proposals by President Trump for America to annex the Arctic island.
The center-right Demokraatik party, which favors a slow approach to independence for the territory, took nearly 30 percent of the vote, eclipsing the incumbent left-wing party, IAInuit Ataqatigiit.
“People want change,” Demokraatit’s leader and a former minister of industry and minerals, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, told reporters in the capital city of Nuuk following the election results. “We want more business to finance our welfare.”
“We don’t want independence tomorrow, we want a good foundation,” he said.
Despite capturing a sizable chunk of the vote, the outcome is not enough for the Demokraatit party to assume complete control of the territory’s political system. An opposition party, Naleraq, which favors a more rapid path to independence, won a quarter of the vote share. The parties are now expected to hold talks in an attempt to form a government coalition.
Denmark ruled the semiautonomous territory of Greenland as a colony until 1953, when it became a district. It has a local government, but its foreign, monetary, and security policies are controlled by Copenhagen, which provides just under $1 billion in aid annually to the country’s economy.
In 2009, the citizens voted in favor of a referendum expanding its autonomy from Denmark, winning the right to declare complete independence. They have yet to do so due to concerns about a drop in the standard of living, according to Reuters, that would likely accompany such a move.
“I strongly believe that we will very soon start to live a life more based on who we are, based on our culture, based on our own language, and start to make regulations based on us, not based on Denmark,” Naleraq party candidate Qupanuk Olsen said.
The Naleraq party has so far been more amenable towards the recent overtures from the Trump administration than other parties.
“I strongly believe all this interest from Trump and the rest of the world is definitely speeding up our independence process times 100,” Ms. Olsen told Reuters.
Despite withering criticism about his hawkish language on the topic, Mr. Trump has doubled down on his intentions to make Greenland an American territory. During a recent address to a joint session of Congress, he insisted that, “one way or the other,” it would happen.
“We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” Mr. Trump said.
“We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it…One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
