in-waiting, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, began the tricky task on Friday of piecing together a disparate center-left government after an election which ended 10 years of center-right rule. Danish newspapers immediately questioned the longevity of her coalition, pointing to sharp differences between parties in the so-called “Red bloc”. They range from mainstream centrists to the far-left. Climbing rather than sweeping to victory on Thursday, Thorning-Schmidt tapped voters' anger about the state of the economy and ejected Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen from power. It was the latest in a series of defeats for incumbents in European countries. Rasmussen was set to tender his formal resignation later on Friday, opening the way for Social Democrat Thorning-Schmidt to try to form a government and become prime minister, the first woman to hold the post in Denmark. Thorning-Schmidt's Red bloc won a slim majority of five seats, according to preliminary results in Denmark's 179-seat parliament. Turnout was a high 87.7 percent. Commentators did not doubt her ability to forge a coalition government, but foresaw difficulties in getting it to work. “With a parliamentary basis consisting of parties in deep mutual dispute over the most important questions in society, the election victory last night could turn out to be a short-lived triumph for Thorning-Schmidt,” daily Berlingske said. One major complication is the fact the two biggest winners of the night were the far-left Red-Green Alliance and the centrist Social Liberals. Both back Thorning-Schmidt but agree on little else. Thorning-Schmidt's own Social Democrats actually lost ground and will be the second largest party after Rasmussen's Liberals. “That is the political challenge,” said Jorgen Elklit, political scientist at the University of Aarhus. “It will certainly take days, maybe weeks to form a government.” The economy will be the first task. Thorning-Schmidt's platform included increased government spending, raising taxes on the wealthy and an unusual plan to make everyone work 12 minutes more per day. An extra hour each week, her group argues, would help kick-start economic growth.
