2021 Ringkøbing-Skjern municipal election

2021 Ringkøbing-Skjern municipal election

16 November 2021
All 29 seats to the Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipal Council 15 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	31,071 (70.1%) 4.7pp
First party Second party Third party   V K A Party Venstre Christian Democrats Social Democrats Last election 11 seats, 36.9% 6 seats, 15.5% 6 seats, 21.3% Seats won 11 6 4 Seat change 0 0 2 Popular vote 10,400 5,960 4,581 Percentage 34.0% 19.5% 15.0% Swing 2.9% 4.0% 6.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   C F D Party Conservatives Green Left The New Right Last election 0 seats, 1.7% 3 seats, 9.5% Did not stand Seats won 3 3 1 Seat change 3 0 1 Popular vote 3,043 2,960 1,188 Percentage 9.9% 9.7% 3.9% Swing 8.2% 0.2% New   Seventh party Eighth party   O J Party Danish People's Party Fjordlisten Last election 2 seats, 6.7% 1 seat, 3.2% Seats won 1 0 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 1,165 538 Percentage 3.8% 1.8% Swing 2.9% 1.4%
Mayor before election Hans Østergaard Venstre Mayor after election Hans Østergaard Venstre

Since the 2007 municipal reform, Ringkøbing-Skjern municipality has been a strong area for centre-right Venstre. However, in 2017, Venstre won only 11 seats, 3 less than they did in 2013. This meant they were 4 seats short of a majority. The Christian Democrats who won 6 seats, and became the joint 2nd biggest party, were looking to get their first mayor in a Danish municipality. However, in a surprising turn of events, the Social Democrats ended up supporting Hans Østergaard from Venstre instead, citing multiple reasons, such as the Christian Democrats being a small party nationwide, and that Kristian Andersen, who was the candidate of the Christian Democrats, did not support gay marriage.

Due to the dramatic outcome the year before, and that Christian Democrats were doing relatively well at the opinion polls nationwide before the election, there were some speculation to whether the Christian Democrats could once again challenge Venstre in getting the mayor's office. However, despite the Christian Democrats increasing their vote share, and Venstre decreasing their vote share, both parties kept the same number of seats, and it was later announced that Hans Østergaard would continue for a 2nd term.

Electoral system

For elections to Danish municipalities, a number varying from 9 to 31 are chosen to be elected to the municipal council. The seats are then allocated using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation. Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality had 29 seats in 2021

Unlike in Danish General Elections, in elections to municipal councils, electoral alliances are allowed.

Electoral alliances

Source

Electoral Alliance 1

Party	Political Position
Green Left	Centre-left to Left-wing
Fjordlisten	Local Party

Electoral Alliance 2

Electoral Alliance 3

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality
	Venstre	10,400	33.95	11	0
	Christian Democrats	5,960	19.46	6	0
	Social Democrats	4,581	14.95	4	-2
	Conservatives	3,043	9.93	3	+3
	Green Left	2,960	9.66	3	0
	The New Right	1,188	3.88	1	New
	Danish People's Party	1,165	3.80	1	-1
	Fjordlisten	538	1.76	0	-1
	Red–Green Alliance	281	0.92	0	0
	Danish Social Liberal Party	267	0.87	0	0
	Liberal Alliance	250	0.82	0	0
Total		30,633	100.00	29	0
Valid votes		30,633	98.59
Invalid votes		134	0.43
Blank votes		304	0.98
Total votes		31,071	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		44,316	70.11
Source: KMD