Denmark voted on Tuesday in local and regional elections expected to deliver a blow to prime minister Mette Frederiksen鈥檚 Social Democrats, after a campaign marred by cyberattacks claimed by pro-Russian hackers.
In Denmark, 75 per cent of public spending is managed through local governments, highlighting the importance of the elections.
The Social Democrats currently govern in 44 of 98 Danish municipalities, including Copenhagen, which they have run since the first local elections were held in 1938.
But the party could now lose its hold on the capital, with its support lagging around just 11 per cent in opinion polls.
Already back in 2021 it came in second place, but managed to hold onto the position of mayor after intense negotiations with its left-wing allies.
鈥楩or the Social Democrats it is so, so important 鈥� so symbolic 鈥� to be able to say, I run the capital,鈥� Kasper Moller Hansen, a political science professor at the University of Copenhagen, told reporters.
This time around, both the Red-Green Alliance 鈥� the biggest party in Copenhagen 鈥� and the Socialist People鈥檚 Party have said they are ready to take control of the mayor鈥檚 office.
They are credited with 24.7 and 21.7 per cent of votes respectively, according to a poll published on November 4 by TV2 television.
鈥榃e want more green streets in the city... I think it鈥檚 important that we all collaborate across the board, but I think the Social Democrats鈥� time has passed in Copenhagen,鈥� 29-year-old voter Christopher Storm said.
鈥榃e need more houses and apartments in Copenhagen I don鈥檛 think the current city council has done the right thing, so we need a change,鈥� said Bjarne Hvidkjaer, a 60-year-old financial consultant.
Tuesday鈥檚 vote follows a final week of campaigning marked by cyberattacks targeting the websites of the government, municipalities and political parties, claimed by pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16).
鈥楧DoS attacks are part of the landscape,鈥� the Danish Civil Protection Agency said in a statement, noting that the intelligence services had anticipated an increase in such attacks around the elections.
DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks halt access to a website by overloading its servers with traffic.
Local issues such as schools, healthcare and elderly care have dominated the campaign, Moller Hansen said.
Transportation has also been a major issue, particularly in Copenhagen, where candidates have clashed over the number of parking spaces in a city that has more bicycles than cars.
Across the country, around 10,000 candidates are standing for either municipal or regional offices, vying for the ballots of 4.7 million registered voters.
In 2021, voter turnout was 67.2 per cent.