Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0109/01091.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 14KB | 269 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01091}
$Pretitle{411}
$Title{Denmark
Right of Liberty Assured Since 1849}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Henning Dehn Nielsen}
$Affiliation{Ministry of Foreign Affairs}
$Subject{party
constitution
government
parliament
denmark
people's
elections
new
power
parties}
$Date{1990}
$Log{Ships*0109101.scf
}
Country:     Denmark
Book:        Facts about Denmark
Author:      Henning Dehn Nielsen
Affiliation: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Date:        1990

Right of Liberty Assured Since 1849

[See Ships: Courtesy Embassy of Denmark, Washington DC]

     On the 5th of June each year the Danes celebrate their Constitution Day.
The national flag is raised and all the known politicians go on the hustings
to proclaim in open-air meetings the merits of the Constitution, upon which
Danish democracy rests.

     It is on the basis of this Constitution that every Dane over the age of
18 has the power to influence the governing of the country by casting his vote
on election day; and a long row of individual rights are guaranteed the
citizen in one of the Constitution's chapters.

     "Personal liberty shall be inviolable", states the Constitution. "No
Danish subject shall, in any manner whatsoever, be deprived of his liberty
because of his political or religious convictions or because of his descent".
It also states: "Any person shall be at liberty to publish his ideas in print,
in writing, and in speech, subject to his being held responsible in a court of
law. Censorship and other preventive measures shall never again be
introduced."

     This Constitution was adopted as long ago as the 5th of June 1849, the
goal being primarily to establish a new framework for governing the Kingdom of
Denmark.

     It was in the wake of strong political foment in many of the European
countries of the 1830s and 1840s, and a form of bloodless political revolution
in Denmark, that it became clear that time had run out for the hitherto
absolute power of the monarchy. And it was with a sigh, according to
historians, that Denmark's King Frederik VII put his name to the new
Constitution, whereafter the monarchy would share power with the people's
elected representatives in Parliament and Government. The Constitution later
has been altered on four occasions - the latest in 1953, when the hitherto
upper chamber (Landstinget) was abolished and female succession to the throne
was introduced. But in all of its main principles, the Constitution of 1849
still forms the basis of governing the Danish people today.

     Even if King Frederik VII all those years ago relinquished most of his
power, monarchy still prevails in Denmark today. But the form of government
is, in the words of the Constitution, a limited monarchism, founded on the
Constitution.

     This is articulated in the Constitution's fundamental provision that
legislative authority shall be vested in the King and Parliament conjointly,
executive authority in the King and judicial authority in the courts of
justice. This is put into practice in such a way that all legislation is
handled and passed by Parliament, but does not become law until signed by the
Queen; and that the Queen delegates her executive powers to members of the
Government, which is answerable to Parliament. The Queen herself has no
political power and is free of accountability.

     The principle of government by parliamentary majority de facto has been
in existence since 1901, but not until the latest changes to the Constitution
in 1953 was the de jure law established that no Minister can remain in office,
after a parliamentary majority has approved a vote of no confidence in him,
and that a no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister means that he goes to
the Queen to submit his government's resignation if new parliamentary
elections are not called.

     Any changes in the Constitution or in the voting age must be submitted to
a national referendum, which also must take place in those situations when
certain powers, normally entrusted to Parliament and Government, are to be
delegated to authorities outside the Kingdom. Such referenda were arranged in
1972, when Denmark joined the European Community (EC), and in 1986, when
Denmark agreed to certain changes in the Community's Treaty of Rome and to the
adoption of a new declaration of foreign policy cooperation among the EC's
member states.

     Danes today look upon the democratic rights of the 1849 Constitution as
obvious and inalienable, and their particular value is enhanced, when
comparisons are made with the status in other countries where the same freedom
of scope does not exist. Danes were taught a harsh lesson in the value of
freedom, when the Germans occupied Denmark from 1940 to 1945, and it was not
surprising that the 5th of June festivities during those years were met with
exceptional support.

Many Parties Forming the Parliament

     When vital issues are on the agenda of the Folketing - Denmark's
Parliament - and top politicians lock horns with one another, millions of
Danes are glued to their television screens as if it were a major sporting
event.

     Quite apart from the big debates. Danes follow with great interest all
that happens in their parliament and a very large proportion of running public
debate in the press and on TV is inspired by the political game surrounding
parliamentary work.

     All this attention is focused on the 179 persons making up the
parliamentary assembly, including two elected in each of the two
self-governing regions of the Kingdom, the Faroes and Greenland. They are
elected for periods of four years by general, direct and secret ballot, in
which all Danes aged over 18 have the power to vote. In practice, however,
only on two occasions since the Constitution was last changed in 1953 has
Parliament sat out the full four-year period.

     The voting age since 1953 has been progressively lowered from 23 to the
current 18. Women have been given the right to vote since 1915, and today 54
of Parliament's 179 members are women, a number seen as all too low by
proponents of women's equality.

     Folketing elections take place when the political situation makes it
necessary, either because the Prime Minister wishes to take the Government's
general policies - or its position on a particular issue - to the people,
or because it has become evident that the Government no longer commands a
majority in Parliament and therefore must follow the customary practice of
resigning and calling new elections.

     Up to close 90 per cent of the electorate usually take part in elections.
Out of the 175 seats available in Parliament, not counting the representatives
from the Faroes and Greenland, 135 are occupied by the winners of the
electoral districts making up the country, while the remaining 40 seats are
reserved for distribution among the parties, which have not gained the number
of mandates proportionate to the amount of votes they have received. In order
to be represented, a party must have gained at least two per cent of the valid
votes cast nationwide.

     When elections are called today, there are many more parties competing
for votes than in former days. Before 1960 Danish politics were dominated by
four parties, which still exist in modernized form and which today are
generally described as "the four old parties". There is the Social Democratic
Party (Socialdemokratiet), based on the trade-union movement, but also with
many other supporters; the Conservative People's Party (Det Konservative
Folkeparti), with support mainly from business and higher salary public
servants; the Liberal Party (Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti), which
traditionally was the farmers' party but which has now gained support in urban
areas; and finally the Radical Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre), the
smallest of the four old parties with supporters particularly from the smaller
farmers and urban intellectuals.

     This fixed pattern was broken in 1960, when the Socialist People's Party
(Socialistisk Folkeparti), a part