19th century pioneer
Louis Pio, founder and first leader of the Social Democrats (1871–1872) and 1875–1877) The party was founded as the International Labour Association of Denmark on 15 October 1871 by
Louis Pio,
Harald Brix and
Paul Geleff. The goal was to organise the emerging
working class on a
democratic and socialist basis. The
industrialisation of Denmark had begun in the mid-19th century and a period of rapid
urbanisation had led to an emerging class of
urban workers. The social-democratic movement emerged from the desire to give this group
political rights and
representation in the
Folketing, the Danish
parliament. In 1876, the party held an annual conference, adopting the first party manifesto. The stated policy was as follows: In 1884, the party had their first two members of parliament elected, namely
Peter Thygesen Holm and
Chresten Hørdum.
20th century , the party's first Prime Minister (1924–1926 and 1929–1942) on his 1935
Stauning or Chaos election poster In 1906, the party created the Social Democratic Youth Association, lasting until 1920 when the
Social Democratic Youth of Denmark and current party's
youth wing was founded. In the
1924 Danish Folketing election, the party won the majority with 36.6 percent of the vote and its first government was put in place with
Thorvald Stauning as
Prime Minister. That same year, he appointed
Nina Bang as the world's first female minister, nine years after
women's suffrage had been given in Denmark. Stauning stayed in power until his death in 1942, with his party laying the foundations for the Danish
welfare state based on a close collaboration between labor unions and the government. In January 1933, Stauning's government entered into what was then the most extensive settlement yet in
Danish politics, namely the
Kanslergade settlement () with the liberal party
Venstre. The settlement was named after Stauning's apartment in Kanslergade in
Copenhagen and included extensive
agricultural subsidies and reforms of the legislation and administration in the social sector. In 1935, Stauning was reelected with the famous slogan "
Stauning or Chaos". Stauning's second cabinet lasted until the
Nazi occupation of Denmark in 1940, when the cabinet was widened to include all political parties for a
national unity government and the Danish government pursued a collaborative policy with the German occupiers. Through the 1940s and until 1972, most of
Denmark's Prime Ministers were from the party.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen government coalition: 1993–2001 The Social Democrats'
social policy through the 1990s and continuing in the 21st century involved a significant
redistribution of income and the maintenance of a large state apparatus with collectively financed core
public services such as
public healthcare,
education and
infrastructure. Social Democrats-led coalition governments (the
I,
II,
III and
IV Cabinets of
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen) implemented the system known as
flexicurity (flexibility and social security), mixing strong Scandinavian
unemployment benefits with deregulated employment laws, making it easier for employers to fire and rehire people in order to encourage
economic growth and reduce unemployment. Towards the end of the 1990s, a
trade surplus of 30 billion
kroner (US$4.9 billion) turned into a
deficit. To combat this, the government increased taxes, limiting
private consumption. The 1998 initiative, dubbed the Whitsun Packet (Danish:
Pinsepakken) from the season it was issued, was not universally popular with the electorate; it may have also been a factor in the Social Democrats' defeat in the
2001 Danish general election.
In opposition: 2001–2011 After being defeated by the
Liberal Party in the 2001 Danish general election, the party chairmanship went to former
finance and
foreign minister Mogens Lykketoft. Following another defeat in the
2005 Danish general election, Lykketoft announced his resignation as party leader and at an extraordinary congress on 12 March it was decided that all members of the party would cast votes in an election of a new party leader. The two contenders for the leadership represented the two wings in the party, with
Helle Thorning-Schmidt being viewed as
centrist and
Frank Jensen being viewed as slightly more
left-leaning. On 12 April 2005, Thorning-Schmidt was elected as the new leader.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt government coalition: 2011–2015 In the
2011 Danish general election, the Social Democrats gained 44 seats in Parliament, the lowest number since 1953. Nonetheless, the party succeeded in establishing a minority government with the
Danish Social Liberal Party and the
Socialist People's Party. The incumbent centre-right coalition led by the
Liberal Party lost power to a centre-left coalition led by the Social Democrats, making Thorning-Schmidt the country's first female prime minister. The Danish Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party became part of the three-party centre-left coalition government. The new parliament convened on 4 October. The government rolled back anti-immigration legislation enacted by the previous government and passed a tax-reform with support from the liberal-conservative opposition. On 3 February 2014, the Socialist People's Party left the government in protest over the sale of shares in the public energy company
DONG Energy to the investment bank
Goldman Sachs. Because of the government's minority status and of its dependency on the support of the Danish Social Liberal Party, the government had to jettison many of the policies that the Social Democrats–Socialist People's Party coalition had given during the campaign. Although critics have accused the government of breaking its promises, other studies argue that it accomplished half of its stated goals, blaming instead poor public relations strategies for its increasingly negative public image. The government pursued a centrist compromise agenda, building several reforms with support from both sides of the parliament. This caused friction with the supporting Red–Green Alliance, who were kept outside of influencing decisions.
In opposition: 2015–2019 In the
2015 Danish general election, the Social Democrats gained seats and became the biggest party in Parliament again since 2001, yet lost the government because the right-wing parties had a majority. The results of the 2015 election and the defeat of the left-bloc led Thorning-Schmidt to resign as prime minister on election night and making way for the next leader
Mette Frederiksen. Under Frederiksen, the Social Democrats voted in favor of a law allowing Danish authorities to confiscate money, jewellery and other valuable items refugees crossing the border may have as long as those valuables have no sentimental value, despite harsh condemnation from the
United Nations Human Right Council and widespread comparisons between the plan and the treatment of
Jews in
Nazi-occupied Europe. The law had been used 17 times in the first six years. Similarly, the Social Democrats voted for
a law banning wearing of
burqas and
niqabs, while abstaining during a vote on a law on mandatory handshakes irrespective of religious sentiment at citizenship ceremonies and on a plan to house criminal
asylum seekers on an island used for researching contagious animal diseases. Frederiksen has also backed the right-wing populist
Danish People's Party in their paradigm shift push to make
repatriation rather than
social integration the goal of asylum policy. She has called for a cap on non-Western immigrants, expulsion of asylum seekers to a reception centre in North Africa and forced labour for immigrants in exchange for benefits. Labeling foreign policies of Europe as too
economic liberal, Frederiksen has criticised other social democratic parties for losing their voters' trust by failing to prevent globalisation chipping away at labour rights, increasing inequality and exposing them to uncontrolled immigration.
2019–present: Frederiksen I and II during a debate with
Martin Lidegaard and
Mona Juul in
Nyborg, January 2026 In the
2019 Danish general election, the Social Democrats gained one further seat and the opposition red bloc of
left-wing and
centre-left parties (the Social Democrats, the Danish Social Liberal Party, the Socialist People's Party and the Red–Green Alliance along with the
Faroese Social Democratic Party and
Greenland's
Inuit Ataqatigiit and
Siumut) won a majority of 93 out of 179 seats in the Folketing while support for the
Danish People's Party and the
Liberal Alliance collapsed, costing
Lars Løkke Rasmussen his majority. With the result beyond doubt on election night, Rasmussen conceded defeat and Frederiksen has been commissioned by
Queen Margrethe II to lead the negotiations to form a new government. On 27 June 2019, Frederiksen was successful in forming the
Frederiksen Cabinet, an exclusively Social Democrats minority government supported by the red bloc, becoming the second woman in the role after Thorning-Schmidt as well as the youngest prime minister in Danish history at the age of 41. Despite having run on an
anti-immigration stance during the election, Frederiksen shifted her stance on immigration by allowing more foreign labour and reversing government plans to hold foreign criminals offshore after winning government. In the
2022 Danish general election, the Social Democrats gained 2 more seats with more than twice the number of seats of any other party. This led to the formation of the
Frederiksen II cabinet, which included the Social Democrats, the Liberal Party and the newly formed
Moderates, being a cross-bloc government. This marked the first time in more than 40 years that the Social Democrats and the Liberal Party, two historical political rivals, have been together in a government. In the
2025 Danish local elections, the Social Democrats suffered significant losses, and losing in
Copenhagen after more than 100 years. In the
2026 Danish general election, the Social Democrats lost 12 seats, their worst result since 1903. However, the Social Democrats remained the largest party in the Folketing. == Platform ==