Borgernes Parti entered the Danish parliament for the first time in the 2026 election, winning four seats and presenting itself as a new anti-establishment force on the right. But within days of the vote, the party had already lost half of its parliamentary group, hit by internal rupture, candidate scandals and growing questions about its political credibility.
Borgernes Parti halved its parliamentary group within two weeks
The most striking fact is numerical. Borgernes Parti won four seats in the Folketing at the election. Two weeks later, it was effectively reduced to two MPs.
First, newly elected MP Jacob Harris became engulfed in a series of allegations linked to his business activities. Then Emilie Schytte, another newly elected MP, announced that she was leaving the party altogether and would continue as an independent.
The result is that a party that had just celebrated its breakthrough on election night is now trying to operate with only half of the group it originally brought into parliament.
Emilie Schytte left over rhetoric and leadership concerns
Emilie Schytte said her political position had not changed, but that she could no longer support the rhetoric defended by party leader Lars Boje Mathiesen. In a statement, she said she would continue in parliament as an independent while still seeing herself as a voice for centre-right voters.
Her departure matters beyond the loss of one mandate. It suggests that the crisis inside Borgernes Parti is not only about individual scandals, but also about the party’s internal culture and leadership style.
That impression was reinforced by wider reporting around the party, including criticism from within its own ranks and open uncertainty among candidates about whether the project remained politically viable.
Jacob Harris became the centre of multiple scandals
The second and more damaging blow came from the case surrounding Jacob Harris, one of the party’s newly elected MPs and one of its strongest personal vote-getters.
According to reporting cited by Danish broadcasters, Harris is at the centre of a major bankruptcy case involving allegations that company funds were used for private expenses, including purchases at Christian Louboutin, travel-related costs and restaurant bills in Dubai, as well as other personal spending.
He also faces scrutiny over money transfers between companies linked to him shortly before one of the firms entered bankruptcy. The case has led to a police report and the possibility of bankruptcy restrictions for what has been described as grossly irresponsible business conduct. Harris has rejected the accusations.
The controversy widened into questions about labour conditions
The pressure on Harris did not stop with the financial case. Further reporting described conflict between one of his companies and trade unions over alleged unsafe working conditions and the use of foreign labour under problematic circumstances.
This made the story politically more damaging, because Harris had previously worked in the trade union movement and had reportedly been involved in efforts against social dumping and the undercutting of collective agreements.
That contrast gave the case a strong element of political hypocrisy, and critics on the union side described the situation as deeply contradictory.
The party’s anti-establishment message is under strain
Borgernes Parti campaigned on distrust of closed power structures, political opacity and the need for more common sense in politics. That message helped it win a place in parliament.
But the events after the election have badly weakened that image. Instead of appearing as a disciplined outsider force, the party has quickly become associated with poor vetting, leadership controversy and personal scandal.
This is especially serious for a new party, because credibility is one of the few political assets it has at the beginning. Established parties can sometimes survive a difficult opening period because they have organisation, history and broader loyalty. A new party has much less room for error.
Lars Boje Mathiesen is now under pressure
The crisis has also returned attention to Lars Boje Mathiesen himself. Camilla Stampe, analyst on TV2 has argued that the party’s problems reflect not only bad luck, but also a failure to properly check candidates before the election.
Boje has responded by saying the party went a long way in trying to investigate candidates beforehand, and that Harris did not tell the truth about the matters now under scrutiny. He has also tried to project calm, arguing that other Danish parties have also had difficult starts before later stabilising.
Politically, however, the damage is already visible. A party that was supposed to arrive as a fresh right-wing force now looks unstable, reactive and internally fragile.
The financial cost is also severe
The collapse has immediate financial consequences. Danish media calculations show that if all four elected MPs had stayed in the party, Borgernes Parti would have received about 850,000 Danish kroner per month in parliamentary group funding, or roughly 10.2 million kroner a year (about 1.37 million euro).
With only two MPs left, the monthly support falls to around 350,000 kroner, or 4.2 million kroner a year (about 563,000 euro).
That is not only a symbolic loss. For a new parliamentary party, public funding is crucial for staffing, administration and political development. Losing that money so early makes organisational consolidation much harder.
A breakthrough followed by immediate disintegration
The story of Borgernes Parti after the election is unusually stark even by the standards of volatile Danish party politics. The party crossed the threshold, entered parliament and secured representation across the country. Then, almost immediately, it was overtaken by scandal and fragmentation.
This does not necessarily mean the project is finished. Danish politics has seen parties survive chaotic beginnings before. But it does mean that Borgernes Parti is no longer entering parliament as a success story. It is entering parliament in crisis.
For now, the party’s first post-election chapter says less about renewal on the Danish right than about how fragile new political projects can be when they are tested by scrutiny, organisation and internal conflict.
