The political party Alternativet (the alternative) has succeeded in gathering the required 20,260 voter declarations to run in the next parliamentary election.

The party was formed at the end of 2013 by former culture minister Uffe Elbæk.

Alternativet and the other newly-founded party Nationalpartiet (the national party) have been frantically collecting signatures to become eligible for votes at the next general election.

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Valued volunteers
Elbæk told DR that it was thanks to volunteers that his party had reached its goal.

“It has only been possible because there have been so many volunteers involved,” he said.

“It has taken place without any form of economic support.”

Subject to verification
The party will continue to collect signatures until it is formally approved by the Ministry of Economic and Interior Affairs, since some of the signatures could be found to be invalid.

“Someone might have signed two declarations or some might be invalid for other reasons,” Elbæk explained.

In the meantime, the party is readying itself for the election. “We have chosen our lead candidates and are in the process of choosing our list candidates,” Elbæk said.

“Our internal deadline is to be completely ready by April 14.”

Nationalpartiet lagging behind
Nationalpartiet, on the other hand, is still a long way from preparing for an election campaign. The party leader, Kashif Ahmad, told DR that his party had only gathered 7,000 signatures so far.

“We’ve known all along that we were under time pressure,” he said.

“If we don’t manage to qualify for votes, we’ll go for the municipality elections.”