The Danish People’s Party candidate for mayor in Vejle is calling for foreigners to be disenfranchised in the upcoming municipal elections in November.

Foreigners living in Denmark currently have the right to vote in local council and regional elections, but not in national general elections. Non-EU and non-Nordic nationals earn the right to vote in local elections after having lived in Denmark for four years.

The call, by mayoral candidate Holder Gorm Petersen, has the backing of the national party, whose deputy chairman Søren Espersen says the issue is already in the party programme.

“He’s simply reading up from our party programme, so he’s not doing anything wrong. We have always believed this should be the case and have even put forward a proposal in Parliament. We want the right to vote to be confined to Danish citizens. That has been our view since Adam and Eve,” Espersen says.

“It’s simply a matter of honour and privilege. It’s not because we don’t think foreigners can figure out what to do. I am sure that many can. But it is an honour and privilege to become a Danish citizen, and that includes the right to vote,” he adds.

The Danish People’s Party Local Government Committee Member Mikkel Dencker says that perhaps Nordic citizens should be able to continue to have the vote in local elections.

“Whether the borderline goes at citizenship, or whether we should allow Nordic citizens to have the vote to, is not something that I think we have yet decided,” Dencker tells Politiken.dk.

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