Trump's impact on Greenland's election, explained

A political party openly critical of U.S. President Donald Trump has won the most seats at Greenland’s election.

It comes amid threats from Trump to take control of the Danish territory.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the centre-right party Demokraatit, told Sky News ahead of the election that Greenland is “not for sale.”

His party tripled its vote at this week’s election. No party secured a majority, however.

Greenland

Greenland is an island of 56,000 people between Europe and North America. It has untapped mineral and oil deposits.

Greenland is a territory of Denmark, and its head of state is Danish King Frederik X. It is mainly self-governing and can create its own laws for major issues. The U.S. has had a military base in Greenland since the 1950s.

Election

Ahead of the election, Nielsen told Sky News he wanted to send “a clear message to [Trump] that we are not for sale.”

“We don’t want to be Americans [or] Danes. We want to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future.”

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Nielsen’s party Demokraatit is pro-business and in favour of Greenland gradually becoming independent from Denmark.

It tripled its percentage of the vote at this election, from 9.1% to 29.9%.

Trump

Trump has floated the possibility of taking control of Greenland multiple times, including during his previous term as President.

Following this week’s election, Trump met with Mark Rutte, the head of military alliance NATO, in the Oval Office.

In front of media, Trump told Rutte: “We need [Greenland] for international security... we have a lot of our favourite players cruising around the coast, and we have to be careful.”

Response

Following Trump’s latest comments, outgoing Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede said he would meet with the leaders of all Greenland’s parties.

In a post to Facebook, Egede said: “The American president has once again floated the idea of annexing us. I cannot accept that… We must intensify our rejection of Trump… Enough is enough.”

As no party won a majority of seats at the election, Demokraatit will now negotiate to form government.