A candidate from a party that wants to fast-track Greenland’s independence won one of the territory’s two seats in the Danish parliament after voters cast ballots on Tuesday. Qarsoq Hoegh-Dam topped the individual preference vote with 21.6% and, combined with his Naleraq party’s result — which placed second — secured him one of Greenland’s two representatives in Denmark’s 179-seat legislature. The territory’s other seat went to Naaja Nathanielsen, a Greenland minister and member of the social-democratic Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA).
Greenlanders vote for both a party and an individual candidate, with the combined tallies determining which candidates take the island’s two parliamentary seats. Naleraq, which campaigned on a rapid break from Denmark, has pushed a clear timetable for independence; IA and other major Greenlandic parties also support eventual sovereignty but differ on how quickly to pursue it.
Greenland, a resource-rich island of roughly 57,000 people that was a Danish colony until 1953, gained self-rule in 2009. The territory’s natural resources and strategic location have drawn international attention; Nuuk and Copenhagen have repeatedly insisted Greenland will decide its own future and is not for sale after publicised comments by the US president about buying or seizing the island.
Greenland’s prime minister told AFP that Denmark’s general election was the most important in the history of the autonomous territory, reflecting how metropolitan election outcomes can affect Greenland’s path toward greater autonomy or independence. In Denmark, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s firm stance against US interest in Greenland proved politically popular, but her Social Democrats — though finishing first — recorded their weakest result in more than 120 years, and the left‑wing bloc failed to win an overall majority.
While the international row over Greenland drew attention, it was not central to the wider Danish campaign, which mainly focused on domestic concerns such as inflation and immigration. The election outcome gives Greenland two parliamentarians with clear, if differing, positions on independence — a development that could influence the pace and politics of any future move toward full sovereignty.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/greenland-party-seeking-swift-independence-wins-danish-seat-11267632#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-03-26 07:06:00
