00:08

epa04807143 Lars Loekke Rasmussen during a campaign event in Koege, Denmark, 18 June 2015. Photograph: Nils Meilvang/EPA

From handing out red roses, to driving about in tractors. From tiresome Borgen references, to wooing fishermen on islands. From clashing on TV debates, to red and blue blocs. Yet in the end, after what has been a tightly fought contest in the Scandinavian nation, the centre-right has been voted in to govern the Folketing.

DR.DK map with 100% votes counted. Photograph: DR.DK

Danish voters have ousted the centre-left government of Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and have today voted for an opposition in which the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party has emerged as the biggest force.



The final results were as follows:

Red bloc

The Social Democrats (A) – 47

Radikale, the Danish Social Liberal party (B) – 8

Socialist People’s party (F) – 7

Red-Green Alliance (Ø) – 14

The Alternative (Å) –9

Blue bloc:

Venstre (V) – 34

Danish People’s party (O) – 37

The Liberal Alliance (I) – 13

The Conservative People’s party (C) – 6

“What’s key for us is that we get the most influence,” Kristian Thulesen Dahl, leader of the People’s Party, said earlier in an interview.

Kristian Thulesen Dahl, the Danish People’s Party leader, and former party leader Pia Kjaersgaard arrive at an election party in Snapstinget at Christiansborg in Copenhagen. Photograph: LINDA KASTRUP/AFP/Getty Images

Up until polling day the incumbent centre-left coalition of Social Democrat prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt had hoped to score a spectacular comeback – her government was trailing by 17% two years ago, after unpopular reforms and broken campaign promises, since taking office in 2011.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt earlier on during election day. Photograph: Scanpix Denmark/Reuters

Yet on the eve of Thursday’s poll the result was seen as too close to call, with barely a single percentage point separating the two blocs.

The blue opposition bloc led by Lars Loekke Rasmussen, leader of the Liberal Party, has 90 seats in the parliament, versus 85 for the red bloc.

The Danish People’s Party won about one-fifth of the votes, almost doubling its backing since the previous election in 2011, after promising Danes tougher immigration laws.

The populist right-wing is also skeptical toward Denmark’s membership in the European Union and has argued in favour of border controls to defy the single market’s free movement of labor. The right-wing party will also the British prime minister, David Cameron, in his quest for EU renegotiations.

Thanks for staying up with the Guardian team on this Denmark election result liveblog special. That’s it from me Aisha Gani, and our correspondents on the ground Lars Eriksen and David Crouch.

Hej hej.