Roundup: Denmark's opposition coalition wins parliamentary election

Denmark's opposition coalition beat the ruling center-left red bloc in the 2015 parliamentary election on Thursday, official data showed.

With all votes counted, the center-right blue bloc led by former Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen won 52.3 percent of the vote, while the red bloc headed by incumbent Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt gained 47.7 percent, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.

The blue bloc garnered 90 seats, ensuring an absolute majority in the 179-member Danish parliament.

The Liberal Party, known as Venstre in Danish and led by Rasmussen, has captured 19.5 percent of the vote and 34 seats. It however saw its support dropping 7.2 percent from the previous election in 2011, losing 13 seats.` The center-right victory also means that Rasmussen is set to re-assume the prime minister position, four years after he was voted out of government.

"The Liberals has not had a particularly good election, but there is a majority of parties that believe Denmark should have a new government. And that gives us an opportunity, but just an opportunity to get the keys back," Rasmussen said at the parliament after vote-counting.

He got straight on the immigration by saying "we want a Denmark where we can get control of the flow of refugees. So whenever a Dane looks into the eyes of a foreigner on the train or in the city, they will be looking into the eyes of a person who wants to embrace Denmark."

Rasmussen also talked about welfare, vowing to focus on core welfare issues where the sick, the old and the vulnerable will be prioritized.

Thorning-Schmidt's Social Democratic Party harvested 26.3 percent of the vote and 47 seats, making it Denmark's single-largest party in parliament.

The prime minister conceded defeat in Thursday's parliamentary election and said she would step down as chairwoman of the Social Democratic Party.

"Thanks for letting me lead this party for 10 years. I stand by my responsibility and it is now time to step down," Thorning-Schmidt said in a speech delivered shortly after the election results were revealed.

Meanwhile, the far-right, euroskeptic Danish People's Party, headed by Kristian Thulesen Dahl, overtook the Liberals as Denmark's second largest party in parliament with a remarkable 21.1 percent of the vote.

The blue bloc had agreed that Rasmussen will take the post as prime minister should the opposition coalition win.

The Danish People's Party's backing of Rasmussen as prime minister has been the determinant factor for the blue bloc to win the 2015 election.

The far-left Red-Green Alliance, known as Enhedslisten, came in fourth with 14 seats, followed by the Liberal Alliance with 13 seats.

The left-leaning party The Alternative, which was founded by former Social Liberal Uffe Elbaek in February 2015, won 4.8 percent of the vote and nine seats, ahead of the Social Liberals that won only 4.6 percent of the vote and thereby eight seats.

The Socialist People's Party, the center-left coalition's support party, saw its support dropping 5 percent to 4.2 percent, getting only seven seats.

It quit the incumbent coalition government in 2014 in protest over the partial sale of the state-owned power company DONG Energy to U.S.-based investment bank Goldman Sachs.

The Conservatives, who used to be the key partner of the center-right coalition, are now the smallest party in parliament with 3.4 percent of the vote and six seats.

The Christian Democrats party won no seats in parliament with a mere 0.8 percent of the vote.

Under Danish law, 175 of the 179 members to the Danish parliament will be elected in mainland Denmark, while two each will be elected from Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are autonomous territories of Denmark.

Danish governments are often characterized by minority administrations, aided with the help of one or more supporting parties.

This means that Danish politics is based on consensus politics. Since 1909, no single party has had the majority in parliament. Endi