2025 Danish local elections

Local elections were held in Denmark on 18 November 2025 for the 2026–2029 term of office. All 2,432 local and 134 regional councillors in Denmark's 98 municipalities and four regions were up for election. The 47 member council of the Region of Eastern Denmark, a merger of the Capital Region and Region Zealand, was be elected for the first time. The new region is scheduled to be established 1 January 2027. The unincorporated small archipelago of Ertholmene is to remain under central government administration and not be a part of a region or municipality.

Background

Every four years, on the third Tuesday in November, local elections are held in Denmark. All 98 municipalities and 4 regions hold elections simultaneously on this date. Rebild Municipality, Lemvig Municipality and Vordingborg Municipality are reducing their number of councillors from 25 to 23, 21 to 19 and 29 to 27 respectively, while Frederiksberg Municipality, is increasing its number from 29 to 31.^[1]

Electoral system

In Danish local elections, all 98 municipal councils and four regional councils are elected concurrently. The municipal councils have between 9 and 31 members, except the Copenhagen City Council which has 55 members. Two of the regional councils have 31 members each, North Jutland 25, and one, the Region of Eastern Denmark, has 47, the last of which was elected for the first time in the 2025 local elections. In total, 2,432 members are elected to the municipal councils, and 134 members are elected to the four regional councils in 2025.^[2]

All elections use the D'Hondt method to calculate number of seats, with the entire municipality or region being one single constituency. There is no legal electoral threshold. The parties are allowed to enter into electoral alliances.^[3] If parties agree to enter an electoral alliance, they would count their votes as one and seats would be distributed to electoral alliances and parties outside of electoral alliances using the D'Hondt method. When an electoral alliance has been allocated the number of seats it is entitled to, the seats would similarly be divided between the component parties using the D'Hondt method. To be an eligible voter, one must meet the following requirements:

• Being at least 18 years old
• Having permanent residence in a municipality
• At least one of the following:
  • Having Danish citizenship
  • Citizenship in another EU member state
  • Citizenship in Iceland or Norway
  • Citizenship in the United Kingdom^[4]
  • Had permanent residence in the Danish Realm for the last 4 years, prior to the election date

Municipal councils

Number of councillors and political parties in the municipal councils

Regional councils

Number of councillors and political parties in the four regional councils

Regional councils notional seats

Since their creation in 2007, Denmark's five regions have been a topic of continuous political debate. In June 2024, the government's Health Structure Commission put forward three proposals to reorganize the healthcare system, two of which involved dissolving the current regions.^[7] Ultimately, the regions were preserved, but with reforms affecting, among other things, the regional councils. From their first election in 2005 until the 2021 election, each of the five regional councils held 41 seats.^[8] The reform resulted in three regions, the North Denmark (25 council seats from 2026), Central Denmark (31 seats), and Southern Denmark Region (31 seats), maintaining their existing boundaries and continuing unchanged, while the other two regions, Zealand and Capital of Denmark were merged to create a new entity with the council having 47 seats.^[9] This is the results of the 2021 elections if the new number of councillors per region had been elected.

Overview of regional councils

Social Democrats
Venstre

Overview of mayors

Social Democrats Venstre Conservatives
Green Left Liberal Alliance Schleswig Party
Social Liberals Danish People's Party
Other local parties

Notes

1. ^ The change in seats for "others" in regional councils is composed of: New Right went from 8 seats to none, Christian Democrats went from 1 seat to none, The Psychiatry List has unchanged 1 seat.
2. ^ Please note that the mayors and regional council chairs were not elected during the local elections on November 18. Instead, they were elected at constituent meetings of each newly elected municipal and regional council that were held between December 1 and 15.^[11]

References

1. ^ "Kommunalvalg" (in da-DK). valg.im.dk. Retrieved 2025-05-30.
2. ^ "Kommunale og regionale valg" (in Danish). Valg.im.dk. 2021. Archived 10 March 2026 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
3. ^ "Det danske valgsystem: Kommunale og regionale valg" (in da-DK). valg.im.dk. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
4. ^ "Bekendtgørelse om valgret og valgbarhed til kommunale og regionale valg for statsborgere i Det Forenede Kongerige med fast bopæl i Danmark", Indenrigs- og Sundhedsministeriet, 2024-06-25, retrieved 2025-10-08
5. ^ "Kommunalvalg d. 18. november 2025" (in da-DK). valg.dk. Retrieved 2025-11-18.
6. ^ "Kommunalvalg d. 18. november 2025" (in da-DK). valg.dk. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
7. ^ "Kommission foreslår at nedlægge regionerne" (in da-DK). jyllands-posten.dk. 11 June 2024. Retrieved 2025-06-09.
8. ^ "Valgene til kommunalbestyrelser og regionsråd den 16. november 2021" (in da-DK). valgim.dk. Retrieved 2025-06-09.
9. ^ "Farvel til Region Hovedstaden og Region Sjælland: Ny Region Østdanmark er en realitet" (in da-DK). dr.dk. 15 November 2024. Retrieved 2025-06-09.
10. ^ Maach, Maja Lærke (27 November 2025). "Ringkøbing-Skjern får sin tredje borgmester på en uge | Nyheder" (in da-DK). DR. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
11. ^ "FAKTA: Borgmesterposter kan stadig nå at flytte sig" (in Danish). Århus Stiftstidende. Ritzau. 21 November 2025. Retrieved 21 November 2025.