(, , V), full name (), is a conservative-liberal, agrarian political party in Denmark. Founded as part of a peasants' movement against the landed aristocracy, today it espouses an economically liberal, pro-free-market ideology.
is the major party of the centre-right in Denmark, and the third-largest party in the country. The party has produced many Prime Ministers. In the 2022 general elections, received 13.3% of the vote and 23 out of 179 seats. Following the resignation of Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, the party is led by Troels Lund Poulsen who serves as the country's Deputy Prime Minister. From 2022 to 2026, the party was a junior partner in the second Frederiksen government.
The party is a member of Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) and has two MEPs in the European Parliament.
History
1870–1910 Venstre was founded in 1870 under the name "Det Forenede Venstre" (). Originally, the party consisted of multiple conflicting groups, all united under liberalism, the safeguarding of farmers' interests and opposition to the then right-wing classical conservative party Højre (literally "Right"). After the party in 1872 gained an absolute majority in the Folketing, it became the leading voice in the battle for parliamentarism, whereafter the party in 1895 split in two, Venstrereformpartiet ("Venstre Reform Party") and Det Moderate Venstre ("The Moderate Left"). In 1905, social liberal factions split from the party and formed Radikale Venstre (also known as the Danish Social Liberal Party), and in 1910 Venstrereformpartiet and Det Moderate Venstre reunited again under the name Venstre. During the late Nineteenth Century, Venstre and the Social Democrats collaborated on social legislation; with several measures passed during this period that both parties supported, including old age pensions in 1891 and health insurance a year later.European Socialism, Volume I From the Industrial Revolution to the First World War and Its Aftermath By Carl Landauer, Publisher: University of California Press, 2024, P.447, P.446
1910–2009 With the decreasing numbers of farms and the growing urbanisation, membership and voter support dropped in the 1950s. During the 1960s the party gradually evolved from being a traditional farmers' party to a more general liberal party. In 1984 Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was elected chairman, and by profiling the liberal ideology in sharp confrontation to the Social Democrats, for example by campaigning for a reduction of the public sector, increasing market management and privatisation, and by being pro-EU, the party returned to its historical position as the biggest liberal party in the 1990s.
After a disappointing 1998 general election, Ellemann-Jensen resigned as chairman and Anders Fogh Rasmussen was elected in his place. He immediately changed the party's usual confrontational strategy, instead appealing to the political centre. In the 2001 general elections the party campaigned for tighter immigration policies and a "tax stop", which proved successful and the party once again became the biggest in parliament, winning 31.2% of the vote and 56 seats. Venstre formed a coalition government with the Conservative People's Party and the Danish People's Party. For the first time since 1929 a liberal government was no longer dependent on the centre parties. Despite a small decline in both the 2005 general elections (29% and 52 seats) and the 2007 general elections (26.2% and 46 seats), the party remained the biggest and the coalition government continued.
On 5 April 2009, Fogh Rasmussen resigned as chairman, instead serving as Secretary General of NATO. In his place Lars Løkke Rasmussen was elected.
2009–present In the 2011 general elections, the party gained 26.7% of the vote and 47 seats, but was not able to form a government, instead leading the opposition against Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt's Social Democratic coalition.
Even though the party lost voter support in the 2015 general elections, only gaining 19.5% of the vote, the party formed a minority government. This government was short-lived, and in 2016 Løkke Rasmussen invited the Conservative People's Party and the Liberal Alliance to form a coalition government instead.
During the campaign of the 2019 general elections, Løkke Rasmussen published an autobiography, in which he opened up for the possibility of forming a government with the Social Democrats. This was seen as controversial in the liberal "blue bloc", and Social Democratic leader Mette Frederiksen immediately declined the proposition.
Following internal fighting in the party, Løkke Rasmussen and vice chairman Kristian Jensen both resigned on 31 August 2019. On 21 September 2019, political spokesman and former Minister for Environment and Food Jakob Ellemann-Jensen was elected the party's next chairman.
Following the 2022 general election, in which Venstre suffered its worst result since 1988, Venstre joined a grand coalition government led by Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen, and also comprising the Moderates, a Venstre splinter formed by former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Ideology
Venstre is categorised as centre-right on the political spectrum, although it has been also described as centrist and right-wing. Ideologically, it has been described as conservative-liberal, liberal-conservative, liberal, conservative, classical-liberal, and agrarian. Additionally, Venstre takes a nativist stance regarding immigration and asylum-seeking; they had also said that "immigrants should learn Danish and understand and respect Danish culture and traditions".
Venstre is an economically liberal party within the Nordic agrarian tradition, and today is notably more pro–free market than its sister parties. Since the elections in 2001, Venstre has enacted a so-called "tax stop" in order to halt the growth in taxes seen during the previous eight years under the Social Democrats. This tax stop has been under heavy fire from the parties on the left bloc of Danish politics, allegedly for being "asocial" and "only for the rich."
Organization
Name and terms The fact that the major centre-right political party in a country calls itself 'Left' is often confusing to foreign (and sometimes Danish) observers. The name has, however, its historical explanation. At the time of its foundation, Venstre affirmed then-progressive ideas in the Danish parliament. Their opponents, Højre (Right), the forerunner of the present-day Conservative People's Party, advocated for established interests, particularly the Church of Denmark and the landed gentry. In current Danish politics there is a clear distinction between the concepts of Venstre (Left, i.e., the party bearing that name) and venstrefløj (left wing, i.e., socialist and other left-leaning parties). The use of the word for "left" in the name of the Danish political party Radikale Venstre (literally: "Radical Left") and the Norwegian party Venstre is meant to refer to liberalism and not socialism.
Members of the party are referred to as venstremænd and venstrekvinder, respectively "Venstre men" and "Venstre women" (singular: -mand, -kvinde).
Leadership
Prime ministers Johan Henrik Deuntzer (24 July 190114 January 1905) Jens Christian Christensen (14 January 190512 October 1908) Niels Neergaard (12 October 190816 August 1909) Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg (16 August 190928 October 1909) Klaus Berntsen (5 July 191021 June 1913) Niels Neergaard (5 May 192023 April 1924) Thomas Madsen-Mygdal (14 December 192630 April 1929) Knud Kristensen (7 November 194513 November 1947) Erik Eriksen (30 October 195030 September 1953) Poul Hartling (19 December 197313 February 1975) Anders Fogh Rasmussen (27 November 20015 April 2009) Lars Løkke Rasmussen (5 April 20093 October 2011; 28 June 201527 June 2019)
Youth and student wings Venstres Ungdom Liberal Students of Denmark (Danmarks Liberale Studerende)
European affiliation and representation In the European Parliament, Venstre sits in the Renew Europe group with four MEPs.
In the European Committee of the Regions, Venstre sits in the Renew Europe CoR group, with five full members for the 2025–2030 mandate.
Election results
Parliament Election Votes % Seats +/- Government 1872 New 1873 2 1876 23 1879 9 1881(May) 4 1881(Jul) 6 1884 80,000 56.3 (#1) 6 1887 132,000 58.1 (#1) 7 1890 123,000 53.0 (#1) 1 1892 63,000 28.1 (#3) 45 1895 89,530 40.5 (#1) 23 1898 98,070 43.6 (#1) 10 1901 103,495 45.9 (#1) 13 1903 121,357 49.4 (#1) 3 1906 94,272 31.2 (#1) 17 1909 77,949 24.0 (#1) 19 1910 118,902 34.1 (#1) 20 1913 103,917 28.6 (#2) 13 1915 8,081 62.8 (#1) 1 1918 269,646 29.4 (#1) 2 1920(Apr) 350,563 34.2 (#1) 3 Caretaker government 1920(Jul) 344,351 36.1 (#1) 3 1920(Sep) 411,661 34.0 (#1) 0 1924 362,682 28.3 (#2) 7 1926 378,137 28.3 (#2) 2 1929 402,121 28.3 (#2) 3 1932 381,862 24.7 (#2) 5 1935 292,247 17.8 (#2) 10 1939 309,355 18.2 (#2) 2 1943 376,850 18.7 (#3) 2 1945 479,158 23.4 (#2) 10 1947 529,066 27.6 (#2) 8 1950 438,188 21.3 (#2) 14 1953(Apr) 456,896 22.1 (#2) 1 1953(Sep) 499,656 23.1 (#2) 9 1957 578,932 25.1 (#2) 3 1960 512,041 21.1 (#2) 7 1964 547,770 20.8 (#2) 0 1966 539,027 19.3 (#2) 3 1968 530,167 18.6 (#3) 1 1971 450,904 15.6 (#3) 4 1973 374,283 12.3 (#3) 8 1975 711,298 23.3 (#2) 20 1977 371,728 12.0 (#3) 21 1979 396,484 12.5 (#2) 1 1981 353,280 11.3 (#4) 2 1984 405,737 12.1 (#3) 2 1987 354,291 10.5 (#4) 3 1988 394,190 11.8 (#4) 3 1990 511,643 15.8 (#3) 7 1994 775,176 23.3 (#2) 13 1998 817,894 24.0 (#2) 0 2001 1,077,858 31.2 (#1) 14 2005 974,636 29.0 (#1) 4 2007 908,472 26.2 (#1) 6 2011 947,725 26.7 (#1) 1 2015 685,188 19.5 (#3) 13 2019 825,486 23.4 (#2) 9 2022 460,546 13.3 (#2) 20 2026 361,689 10.1 (#3) 5
Local elections Municipal elections YearSeats#± 1925 1929 324 1933 77 1937 318 1943 157 1946 302 1950 177 1954 11 1958 52 1962 209 1966 449Municipal reform 1970 667 1974 197 1978 122 1981 85 1985 39 1989 60 1993 340 1997 44 2001 109Municipal reform 2005 862 2009 105 2013 68 2017 79 2021 68 2025 98 Regional elections YearSeats # ± 1935 217,375 New 1943 300,241 1 1946 368,040 16 1950 348,861 11 1954 355,295 1 1958 412,111 8 1962 387,628 8 1966 402,574 12Municipal reform 1970 449,479 20 1974 400,062 3 1978 411,812 8 1981 457,565 6 1985 418,149 1 1989 451,807 6 1993 717,536 36 1997 665,857 1 2001 963,220 15Municipal reform 2005 744,466 79 2009 648,903 6 2013 809,664 8 2017 744,005 8 2021 689,869 0Municipal reform 2025 540,684 26 Mayors YearSeatsNo.±20052009 42013 172017 112021 22025 7
European Parliament Year List leader Votes % Seats +/– EP Group 1979 Tove Nielsen 252,767 14.48 (#3) New LD 1984 248,397 12.48 (#4) 1 LDR 1989 Niels Anker Kofoed 297,565 16.63 (#3) 1 1994 Eva Kjer Hansen 394,362 18.96 (#1) 1 ELDR 1999 Bertel Haarder 460,834 23.39 (#1) 1 2004 Karin Riis-Jørgensen 366,734 19.36 (#2) 2 ALDE 2009 Jens Rohde 474,041 20.24 (#2) 0 2014 Ulla Tørnæs 379,840 16.68 (#3) 1 2019 Morten Løkkegaard 648,203 23.50 (#1) 2 RE 2024 360,212 14.72 (#3) 2
See also Liberalism Contributions to liberal theory Liberalism worldwide List of liberal parties Liberal democracy Liberalism and radicalism in Denmark Nordic agrarian parties
Notes
References
Further reading Tom Matz (2004), Venstre ved du hvor du har . ForlagsKompagniet: Nørhaven Book.
External links
Venstre official site Denmark's Liberal Party presentation in English Party Profile from the newspaper Politiken Venstre Reform Party program of 1909 (from Danish Wikisource)