Politics of Greenland

Executive power rests with a high commissioner, and a prime minister heads the Cabinet. The high commissioner of Greenland is appointed by the monarch (on from 2011: Queen Margrethe II), and the prime minister is elected indirectly by parliament elections results for four-year terms.

The High Commissioner has a seat in the Inatsisartut, he or she is allowed to speak in the Inatsisartut regarding common Danish/Greenlandic affairs, but he or she is not allowed to vote.[1] Following legislative elections, the leader of the party that wins the most seats is usually given the initiative to establish a new coalition by the Greenlandic Parliament, unless the current Naalakkersuisut Siulittaasuat (Prime Minister in English) is still in power. However, if he/she fails, the Chairman of the parliament asks all chairmen of the parties elected to the parliament, and asks them to point to another chairman who they feel can rightly form a new coalition. The chairman with the most votes is then handed the initiative. After forming the coalition, the Naalakkersuisut Siulittaasuat leads the Naalakkersuisut. The Naalakkersuisut will often consist of around 9 members. The coalition parties divide the various ministries among themselves and after this, the parties elect their representative to these ministries. Any other member of the cabinet is called a Naalakkersuisoq.

Legislative power is shared by the government and the legislature. The legislature Greenlandic Parliament (Greenlandic: Inatsisartut) is made up of 31 members elected by direct, popular vote to serve four-year terms by proportional representation. Election of 2 seats to the Danish Parliament (Danish: Folketing) was last held on June 5, 2019. The current composition is shown below.

 Summary of the 24 April 2018 Parliament of Greenland election results[2]

Parties		Leaders	Votes			Seats
			#	%	±	#	±
	Siumut (Forward) (S)	Kim Kielsen	7,957	27.2	7.1	9	2
	Inuit Ataqatigiit (Community of the People) (IA)	Sara Olsvig	7,478	25.5	7.6	8	3
	Demokraatit (Democrats) (D)	Randi Vestergaard Evaldsen	5,712	19.5	7.7	6	2
	Partii Naleraq (Point of Orientation) (PN)	Hans Enoksen	3,931	13.4	1.8	4	1
	Atassut (Solidarity) (A)	Siverth K. Heilmann	1,730	5.9	0.6	2	0
	Suleqatigiissitsisut (Cooperation Party) (SA)	Michael Rosing	1,193	4.1	New	1	1
	Nunatta Qitornai (Descendants of Our Country) (NQ)	Vittus Qujaukitsoq	1,002	3.4	New	1	1
	Candidates without parties		22	0.1	0.0	0	0
	Invalid votes		111
Subtotal (Turnout: 72.9% – electorate: 40,424)			29,488	100.0		31

All turnout figures include invalid votes, subtotals and totals exclude invalid votes

 Summary of the 5 June 2019 Parliament of Denmark election Greenlandic results[3]

Parties		Leaders	Votes			Seats
			#	%	±	#	±
	Inuit Ataqatigiit (Community of the People) (IA)	Sara Olsvig	6,881	33.4	5.1	1	0
	Siumut (Forward) (S)	Kim Kielsen	6,058	29.4	8.8	1	0
	Demokraatit (Democrats) (D)	Anda Uldum	2,262	11.0	2.5	0	0
	Nunatta Qitornai (Descendants of Our Country) (NQ)	Vittus Qujaukitsoq	1,616	7.8	New	0	New
	Partii Naleraq (Point of Orientation) (PN)	Hans Enoksen	1,565	7.6	2.9	0	0
	Atassut (Solidarity) (A)	Knud Kristiansen	1,099	5.3	2.1	0	0
	Cooperation Party (Suleqatigiissitsisut) (SA)	Michael Rosing	520	2.5	New	0	New
	Invalid votes		614
Subtotal (Turnout: 49.9% – electorate: 41,344)			20,615	100.0		2

All turnout figures include invalid votes, subtotals and totals exclude invalid votes

Greenland's judicial system is based on the Danish civil law system, operates independently of the legislature and the executive. It has two court of first instance: the District Courts and the Court of Greenland depending on the type of case, whereas the High Court of Greenland hears cases as the second instance. Decisions made by the High Court of Greenland may be brought before the Supreme Court subject to the permission of the Appeals Permission Board. Appeals may be submitted to the Østre Landsret and the Supreme Court of Denmark (Højesteret).

Greenland has a multi-party system (disputing independence versus unionism as well as left versus right). Governments are usually coalition governments. The Greenlandic Parliament (Inatsisartut) has 31 seats. Members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms.

The island is administratively divided into 5 municipalities[4] with about 74 cities and villages.

Along with diplomatic missions to the European Union and the United States,[5] Greenland participates in the Nordic Council, Arctic Council, International Whaling Commission (Complete list of participation of Greenland in international organisations).

With Denmark having responsibility for Greenland's international affairs, other countries do not have direct diplomatic representation in Greenland — their embassies or consulates in Copenhagen are responsible for their relations with Greenland and their citizens staying or living there.

Greenland is represented internationally by the embassies and consulates of Denmark, although Greenland has an independent Representation to the European Union in Brussels since 1992[6] and in the United States in Washington D.C since 2014.[7]

Greenland maintains economic and cultural relations with Taiwan via Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada.

• Arctic cooperation and politics
• Arctic policy of Denmark
• Politics of Denmark
• List of Danish High Commissioners in Greenland
• Foreign relations of Greenland
• Greenland–European Union relations

• Prime Minister’s Office
• Government of Greenland official government website (in English)
• Greenland.com from the Greenland Tourism & Business Council
• Statistics Greenland