At its 42nd Plenary Session, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation on local and regional elections in Denmark (16 November 2021) following an election observation mission carried out, for the first time ever in this country, from 13 to 17 November 2021.

The Congress expressed satisfaction with orderly Election Day procedures and noted that, despite the backdrop of rising cases of Covid-19 infections in the country, the preparations for the local and regional elections were conducted efficiently by a highly decentralised election administration. The rapporteur Gunn Marit Helgesen (Norway, EPP/CCE) welcomed the high-level of public trust in the electoral administration and the high turnout which is the prime feature of the vivid democracy in Denmark.

However, the report also identified several areas where there is still room for improvement, notably the regulation of campaign finances, combatting hate speech and fake news online, professionalisation of the election administration and the creation of an institutional framework for election observation.

“Our delegation was concerned about the overall under-regulation of the campaign finances resulting in weak transparency and lacking accountability, in particular with regard to non-anonymous party donations which are currently unlimited”, highlighted the rapporteur.

Among other recommendations, the Congress invites the Danish authorities to implement measures to strengthen the regulatory framework ensuring transparency and accountability of campaign finances, and to introduce legislative provisions for the accreditation of international election observers, in order to formally acknowledge the role of independent election observation.

Finally, the report encourages national authorities to consider introducing effective measures to fight online fake news and hate speech to tackle polarisation in the society as well as to consider revising regulations regarding the involvement of incumbents or candidates running in elections as poll workers on the Election Day.

• Report: CG(2022)42-17
• Statement by Gunn Marit HELGESEN
• Mediabox interview with Gunn Marit HELGESEN
• Video of the debate

See also: Council of Europe Congress concluded electoral mission to Denmark

Contact: Renate ZIKMUND, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, [email protected]

Upon invitation by national associations of Danish regions and municipalities, the Congress deployed, for the first time ever in this country, an observation mission to assess the local and regional elections held on 16 November 2021. On the Election Day, four Congress teams involving eight observers visited about 50 polling stations to observe polling and counting procedures in the Copenhagen metropolitan area as well as in other regions of Denmark.

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42nd Session 

Agenda – Web page – Multimedia (Live broadcast, interviews, videos and photos)