European Elections in the Nordics: Schadenfreude

THE Eurosceptic Danish People’s Party (DPP) cannot be blamed for Schadenfreude over the European election. The DPP’s leading candidate, the youthful Morten Messerschmidt, topped the poll and doubled the party’s seats in the European Parliament to four; his 465,758 personal votes smashed a record set a decade ago by a former prime minister, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, who once castigated the DPP as “dishonourable”.The election leaves Denmark’s mainstream political parties in a state of disarray. The ruling Social Democratic Party as well as the main opposition party lost one seat each. The coalition’s decline can be ascribed to austerity fatigue, but the opposition’s collapse is largely due to missteps by the leader of the Liberal Party, Lars Lokke Rasmussen.Less than a year ago, Mr Rasmussen, a former prime minister, seemed sure to win his job back at the next general election, but he has been dogged by scandals in recent months. His penchant for the finer things in life, including first-class flights at state expense and splashing $ 27,000 from party coffers on clothes, has put his leadership in doubt. A gathering of the party’s top brass next week will probably force his resignation. And Helle Thorning-Schmidt, leader of the Social Democrats and prime minister, may be tempted to exploit her opponent’s weakness by calling a snap…

The Economist: Europe