Mette Frederiksen seeks closer cooperation with SF after the 2025 municipal elections, signalling a possible leftward turn on welfare and inequality as the Danish Social Democrats try to recover from their worst local result in decades.
Local election shock pushes Socialdemokratiet to look left
The municipal elections on 18 November 2025 left Socialdemokratiet weakened across Denmark, with fewer votes, fewer mayors and the loss of long‑standing strongholds, including Copenhagen. NordiskPost has already analysed how this defeat exposed a broader crisis for the Danish Social Democrats, from internal leadership tensions to strained relations with their left‑wing allies.
In this new phase, the key question is not just how many votes the party has lost, but where it can find new support. The answer now coming from the top of the party is clear: instead of fighting SF (Socialist People’s Party) for the same voters, Socialdemokratiet wants to rebuild a common project on the left.
From open conflict to a common welfare agenda with SF
In a long interview with Weekendavisen, Mette Frederiksen acknowledges that open conflict between Socialdemokratiet and SF has damaged their shared ambitions. A campaign framed as a contest between the two parties may help SF grow, but it weakens the centre‑left bloc as a whole.
Frederiksen describes SF as a neighbour party on issues such as social policy, environmental policy and classic welfare priorities, and she stresses that the two parties have previously solved “many tasks together”. Under the heat of the municipal campaign, these common points were often overshadowed by attacks and sharp contrasts. Now, the Social Democrat leader says that the next national campaign should instead highlight cooperation on welfare and equality.
This is not only a tactical message. It signals that Socialdemokratiet has understood one of the central lessons of the local elections: voters who are worried about rising inequality, local services and everyday security are more likely to move to SF than to liberal or conservative parties when they feel let down by the Social Democrats.
A course correction many observers already anticipated
Shortly after the election, NordiskPost wrote that if the Social Democrats wanted to regain support and stay in power, they would probably have to look to the left rather than to the centre. The municipal results showed that a significant part of the party’s weakness came from competition inside the red bloc, not only from blue‑bloc challengers.
The move now announced by Mette Frederiksen can be read as the first concrete response to that diagnosis. Instead of treating SF as a rival to be weakened, the Social Democrats are signalling that they want to rebuild trust and present a more unified left‑wing alternative on welfare, redistribution and climate policy.
This does not automatically mean that the party will abandon the SVM centrist government or its commitments on defence and fiscal policy. But it does suggest a stronger emphasis on the themes where Socialdemokratiet and SF are closest: social security, public services and the fight against inequality.
SF’s gains make cooperation more attractive – and more necessary
The municipal elections confirmed SF’s rise as a key force in Danish politics, especially in urban areas. The party not only advanced in votes in many municipalities, but also took over symbolic positions from the Social Democrats, including the lord mayoralty in Copenhagen with Sisse Marie Welling.
This shift changes the balance inside the red bloc. SF is no longer a small support party that can be kept in line with tough rhetoric or warning campaigns. It has become a party that can win big cities and shape local majorities on its own terms.
For Socialdemokratiet, this creates both a risk and an opportunity. The risk is that continued confrontation will simply push more voters and local actors towards SF, deepening the Danish Social Democrats crisis. The opportunity is that closer cooperation could stabilise the left, offer voters a clearer choice against the centre‑right and share responsibility for difficult welfare decisions.
What a closer cooperation with SF could mean nationally
A key open question is how this new tone towards SF will fit with the Social Democrats’ participation in the SVM government with Venstre and Moderaterne. For now, Mette Frederiksen presents the closer cooperation with SF primarily as a political course correction on welfare and inequality, not as an immediate change in government composition.
In practice, however, stronger cooperation with SF could have several consequences:
- It may push the Social Democrats to prioritise welfare reforms and measures against inequality more visibly in the SVM agenda.
- It could make it easier, after the next general election, to imagine a centre‑left government where SF plays a formal role rather than staying outside as a support party.
- It might also change the tone of debate on the left, reducing the mutual attacks that marked the municipal campaign and replacing them with more coordinated messages on social policy and climate.
At the same time, the Social Democrats will have to convince voters that this is more than a short‑term reaction to a bad election night. If the new line towards SF is seen as a genuine strategic shift, it could help rebuild trust among former Social Democrat voters who have moved left. If it looks like a temporary signal with little follow‑up in concrete policy, it may instead reinforce the perception that the party changes course only under pressure.
A test of whether Socialdemokratiet can renew itself on the left
The announced closer cooperation with SF therefore becomes a test of whether Socialdemokratiet is able to renew itself from the left without losing its broad appeal. It requires the party to reconnect with its core identity as a defender of those who have least, while managing the responsibilities of government in an uncertain security environment.
For now, the message is clear: after a historic municipal defeat and growing criticism from its own councillors, Mette Frederiksen is no longer presenting the competition with SF as a defining battle. Instead, she is inviting the party that just won Copenhagen and several other key positions to be part of a shared welfare project.
Whether this invitation leads to a new, more stable balance on the Danish left – or simply marks another short chapter in the Danish Social Democrats crisis – will depend on what happens next: in the SVM government, in the opinion polls and, ultimately, at the next general election.
