Members of the Danish government were quick to congratulate France's new president, François Hollande, on his victory in the presidential election on Sunday evening. The Socialist Hollande defeated incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in the second and final round of voting.
Denmark's foreign minister, Villy Søvndal (Socialistisk Folkeparti) called Hollande’s election a victory for the left in Europe.
“I was pleased to note that during his campaign, Hollande emphasised the importance of boosting employment in Europe,” said Søvndal. “The Danish government shares those ambitions.”
Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) echoed Søvndal’s support for Hollande.
"I look forward to close co-operation with François Hollande,” Thorning-Schmidt said in a statement. “This is especially true in working to bring Europe out of the financial crisis and focusing on job creation and growth. Both have been priorities for Denmark during our EU presidency.”
Danish politician’s Twitter feeds were full of messages congratulating the new French leader.
“Hooray for Hollande," tweeted the environment minister, Ida Auken (Socialistisk Folkeparti). "Now we can finally bring some life back to Europe and get young people back to work.”
Margrethe Vestager (Radikale), the economy minister, also tweeted her congratulations to Hollande. “Tres bien,” she wrote.
French media reported that Hollande defeated Sarkozy by a razor-thin 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent margin, but French citizens voting in Denmark showed much more support for their new president. Hollande received 65.4 percent of the vote from the 3,300 French voters in Denmark while the outgoing president Sarkozy received just 34.6 percent.
The turnout among French voters in Denmark was significantly lower than in France. Just under 45 percent made it to the polling places at the French school in Frederiksberg and the French consulate in Copenhagen. Nearly 81 percent of the population voted in France.
