New party blasts election process

Leader decries a “democratic scandal” that means voter declarations remain absent

PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s decision to call for an election on June 18 has left new party Nationalpartiet stunned and on the back foot in terms of its election plans.

The short time until the election means that Nationalpartiet still needs about one third of its required 20,260 voter declarations approved in order to run as a party in the elections. The deadline is 15 days before the election: June 3.

According to party head Kashif Ahmad, the party easily has the required number of voter declarations, but because of the slow system – which means that a declaration must be approved by the municipality, sent back to the voter and then on to the party – Nationalpartiet is still missing around 7,000 declarations.

“I think it’s a democratic scandal,” Ahmad told DR Nyheder. “And today, when I see that the election has been called, I question whether we live in a democracy or a controlled society.”

“We need to see in two to four days how far we’ve got. If we don’t make it, then we’ll launch plan B,” he added, meaning that the party’s candidates will run individually outside the party.

READ MORE: Yahya Hassan to run as candidate for Nationalpartiet

“Not our fault”
The young party, which was established last year by three brothers with Pakistani backgrounds and recently added the controversial poet Yahya Hassan to its ranks, claims to have over 30,000 voter declarations on the way.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Interior rejected the notion that it was to blame for Nationalpartiet’s election woes.

“Nationalpartiet’s belief that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Interior purposely delayed the development of digital voter declarations is a serious accusation that the minister feels is baseless,” Søren Stauning, a ministry spokesperson, told Ekstra Bladet tabloid.

“It’s the prime minister who chooses the election date.”

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