Denmark’s center-right coalition talks break down, prolonging political deadlock

Denmark‘s acting Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen’s attempt to form a centre-right government broke down on Friday, he said, prolonging a post-election stalemate in the Nordic country’s parliament.

A March election resulted in a fragmented assembly of 12 parties, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen resigning after her Social Democrats remained the largest party but suffered their worst election result since 1903.

Poulsen, leader of the right-wing Liberal Party, had been asked by the king to explore government options after caretaker Prime Minister Frederiksen’s own coalition talks collapsed earlier this month.

He had sought to form a government, seeking backing from right-wing parties, but failed to secure support from Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s centrist Moderate Party, which had abandoned talks with Frederiksen and proposed that Poulsen be given the task.

Denmark‘s King Frederik will now hold fresh talks with party leaders and could ask Frederiksen to make another attempt at forming a government, or hand the task to one of the other party leaders.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Jesus Calero, editing by Terje Solsvik and Anna Ringstrom)