Calls for Mette Frederiksen’s resignation are now coming from inside her own party, as a growing group of local Social Democratic councillors openly argue that the prime minister should step down as party leader after the historic municipal election defeat.
From municipal defeat to open rebellion
The immediate trigger for the rebellion is the municipal elections held on 18 November 2025, where the Danish Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet) suffered their worst local result in decades. The party fell to 23.2 percent of the vote, a fall of 5.2 percentage points compared to 2021, and has so far lost at least 18 mayoralties, including Copenhagen and several traditional strongholds.
In earlier NordiskPost articles we have analysed how the party lost the lord mayoralty in Copenhagen after more than a century and how the centre‑left landscape has shifted in many municipalities, with Socialist People’s Party (SF) and other parties moving into positions once dominated by Socialdemokratiet. Here, the focus is on what happens next inside the party.
Councillors say the party needs a new start
For the first time since Mette Frederiksen became party leader ten years ago, a substantial number of Social Democratic councillors now say publicly that she should resign. In a DR survey of local representatives, 41 Social Democratic councillors answered that she is not the right leader to reverse the decline ahead of the next general election.
Many of those critics link the municipal defeat directly to her leadership and political course. Jan D. Andersen, a councillor from Skive who was not re‑elected, argues that
“We need a new leader, that is the only solution I can see if we are to win the general election”, insisting the party must “start from scratch”
Others, such as long‑time Norddjurs councillor Tom Bytoft, go even further and say the first thing Frederiksen should do is submit her resignation, even if that would likely trigger early national elections.
Behind the numbers lies a clear message: parts of the local Social Democratic organisation fear that if nothing changes at the top, the next national vote could repeat the municipal “slap in the face”.
A party divided over responsibility – and over Mette Frederiksen herself
The survey also shows how divided Socialdemokratiet is over the prime minister’s role in the defeat. Among the councillors who responded, 99 say she has had a negative impact on the local result, while only 24 see her as an asset; the rest consider her influence neutral or decline to answer.
Several councillors quoted by Danish media say “trust is gone” and describe Frederiksen as a burden with voters rather than a draw. Local politicians from Svendborg, Tønder and other municipalities speak of a leader who has “lost credibility”, of a party that has “forgotten the little man”, and of voters who explicitly refused to support S “as long as Mette is chair”.
At the same time, a majority of respondents in the DR survey – 130 councillors – still see her as the right leader, and many in the national group emphasise her role in navigating the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The party’s political spokesperson, Christian Rabjerg Madsen, downplays the internal criticism by stressing that around 5.5 percent of all invited councillors back a change in leadership, and insists that Socialdemokratiet still has “a very capable leader and prime minister”.
The result is a fragile balance: a leader who formally maintains strong support, but faces unprecedented open dissent from the grassroots level.
How Socialdemokratiet chooses its leader
The Social Democratic leader is formally chosen by the party congress, which is the highest decision‑making body. According to the party statutes, congress meets every four years and elects the party chair, two deputy chairs and the party secretary. If there is more than one candidate for the leadership and no one obtains a two‑thirds majority at congress, the choice can be sent to a postal or electronic ballot of all party members.
This means that any change at the top would require either an ordinary or an extraordinary congress, which can be called by the national executive (Hovedbestyrelsen) or by a sufficient number of local party branches. In practice, leadership changes in Socialdemokratiet have usually been prepared through negotiations in the parliamentary group and the party’s internal “coffee clubs” before being formally endorsed by congress.
Mette Frederiksen has led the party since June 2015, when she succeeded Helle Thorning‑Schmidt, and has served as prime minister since 2019, heading first a minority centre‑left government and since 2022 a broad “SVM” coalition with the Liberals (Venstre) and Moderates.
Mette Frederiksen’s leadership crisis and the SVM coalition
The current debate on Mette Frederiksen’s resignation is closely linked to discontent with the centrist SVM government. As reported in earlier NordiskPost coverage, many Social Democratic local leaders believe that the coalition with Venstre and Moderaterne has blurred the party’s profile and shifted attention from welfare and social protection to defence spending and tight fiscal policy.
In interviews, several local party chairs complain that they have spent the municipal campaign defending national reforms such as the cash‑benefit reform and the controversial abolition of the Great Prayer Day holiday, while voters see billions being allocated to defence and support for Ukraine. For many of them, the municipal result confirms that the party has moved too far towards the centre, both on economic and social policy.
The new round of criticism from councillors adds to an already existing debate inside the party over whether it should double down on the broad‑centre strategy or pivot back towards a clearer social‑democratic profile focused on everyday welfare, inequality and public services.
What the revolt says about Socialdemokratiet’s future
For now, Mette Frederiksen has made it clear that she does not intend to resign. After the election she accepted responsibility for the poor result, but insisted that the party had gained ground at the last national election and that her task is to lead Socialdemokratiet into the next one.
The open revolt from local councillors nonetheless changes the dynamics. Even if 41 councillors represent only a minority of the party’s local representatives, the fact that they publicly call for a new leader breaks with a long tradition of discipline in a party that has historically protected sitting leaders – especially when they also serve as prime minister.
Whether this discontent will translate into an organised push for an extraordinary party congress or remain a warning shot depends on how the party performs in national polls over the coming months and on whether key figures in the parliamentary group start to see an advantage in a leadership change.
What is clear is that the municipal election shock has opened a new phase for the Danish Social Democrats. The party is no longer just debating strategy and coalition partners; it is now openly discussing who should lead it into the next decade – and whether Mette Frederiksen is still the person who can hold together a party under pressure from both voters and its own grassroots.
