Danish PM faces fight to stay in post after election losses

Denmark's centre-left prime minister has said she wants to stay in her job after inconclusive election results left the country facing weeks of coalition talks.

Mette Frederiksen has been seen by some in Britain's Labour government as a role model for success, especially concerning her tough approach to immigration. Read more: Does UK fancy Danish model? But her Social Democrats have been left bruised from the left and the right after a campaign dominated by the cost of living, which has proved damaging for incumbent leaders around the world in recent years.

She had called an early election for Tuesday hoping her handling of foreign affairs - notably the crisis sparked by Donald Trump's ambitions for Greenland - would see voters place their trust in her again. What are the results? While her party is again the largest on 21.9% of the vote, it's well down on the 27.5% secured in 2022.

Tuesday's vote leaves the Social Democrats with 38 seats in the 179-seat parliament. Denmark's Green party, to the prime minister's left, won 11.6% of the vote and 20 seats.

The centre-right Liberal Party and Liberal Alliance won 18 seats (10.1%) and 16 seats (9.4%) respectively. The anti-immigration Danish People's Party won 9.1% of the vote and 16 seats - its vote share up 7% on last time.

With the left nor the right securing enough votes to form a coalition, it could leave the Moderates party - firmly in the centre ground - as kingmakers. Led by foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, a former PM, it won 14 seats.

It was part of the 2022-2026 coalition, with the Social Democrats and Liberal Party. Coalition talks to commence Ms Frederiksen said she was ready to stay on, saying Denmark "needs a stable government" in an "unsettled" world amid war in Europe and the Middle East.

"We are ready to take the lead," she added. Mr Rasmussen echoed the PM's call for stability, saying Denmark - a NATO and EU member - "is a small country of six million people.