Venstre (Denmark)

Venstre was founded in 1870 under the name Det Forenede Venstre ("The United Left") and originally consisted of multiple conflicting groups, all united under the liberal ideology, the safeguarding of farmers' interests and opposition to the then conservative party Højre (literally "Right"). After the party in 1872 gained an absolute majority in the Folketing, it became the leading voice in the battle for parliamentarism, whereafter the party in 1895 split in two, Venstrereformpartiet ("Venstre Reform Party") and Det Moderate Venstre ("The Moderate Left"). In 1905, social liberal factions split from the party and formed Radikale Venstre (also known as the Danish Social Liberal Party), and in 1910 Venstrereformpartiet and Det Moderate Venstre reunited again under the name Venstre.[18]

With the decreasing numbers of farms and the growing urbanisation, membership and voter support dropped in the 1950s. During the 1960s the party gradually evolved from being a traditional farmers' party to a more general liberal party. In 1984 Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was elected chairman, and by profiling the liberal ideology in sharp confrontation to the Social Democrats, for example by campaigning for a reduction of the public sector, increasing market management and privatisation, and by being pro-EU, the party returned to its historical position as the biggest liberal party in the 1990s.[18]

After a disappointing 1998 general election, Ellemann-Jensen resigned as chairman and Anders Fogh Rasmussen was elected in his place. He immediately changed the party's usual confrontational strategy, instead appealing to the political centre. In the 2001 general elections the party campaigned for tighter immigration policies and a "tax stop", which proved successful and the party once again became the biggest in parliament, winning 31.2% of the vote and 56 seats. Venstre formed a coalition government with the Conservative People's Party and the Danish People's Party. For the first time since 1929 a liberal government was no longer dependent on the centre parties. Despite a small decline in both the 2005 general elections (29% and 52 seats) and the 2007 general elections (26.2% and 46 seats), the party remained the biggest and the coalition government continued.[18]

On 5 April 2009 Fogh Rasmussen resigned as chairman, instead serving as Secretary General of NATO. In his place Lars Løkke Rasmussen was elected.[19]

In the 2011 general elections the party gained 26.7% of the vote and 47 seats, but was not able to form a government, instead leading the opposition of Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt's Social Democratic coalition.

Even though the party lost voter support in the 2015 general elections, only gaining 19.5% of the vote, the party formed a minority government. This government was short lived, and in 2016 Løkke Rasmussen invited the Conservative People's Party and the Liberal Alliance to form a coalition government instead.[20]

During the campaign of the 2019 general elections Løkke Rasmussen published an autobiography, in which he opened up for the possibility of forming a government with the Social Democrats.[21] This was seen as controversial in the liberal "blue bloc", and Social Democratic leader Mette Frederiksen immediately declined the proposition.[22]

Following internal fighting in the party, Løkke Rasmussen and vice chairman Kristian Jensen both resigned on 31 August 2019. On 21 September 2019 political spokesman and former Minister for Environment and Food Jakob Ellemann-Jensen was elected the party's next chairman.[23]

• Johan Henrik Deuntzer (July 24, 1901 – January 14, 1905)
• Jens Christian Christensen (January 14, 1905 – October 12, 1908)
• Niels Neergaard (October 12, 1908 – August 16, 1909)
• Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg (August 16, 1909 – October 28, 1909)
• Klaus Berntsen (July 5, 1910 – June 21, 1913)
• Niels Neergaard (May 5, 1920 – April 23, 1924)
• Thomas Madsen-Mygdal (December 14, 1926 – April 30, 1929)
• Knud Kristensen (November 7, 1945 – November 13, 1947)
• Erik Eriksen (October 30, 1950 – September 30, 1953)
• Poul Hartling (December 19, 1973 – February 13, 1975)
• Anders Fogh Rasmussen (November 27, 2001 – April 5, 2009)
• Lars Løkke Rasmussen (April 5, 2009 – October 3, 2011; June 28, 2015 – June 27, 2019)

The fact that the major centre-right political party in a country calls itself 'Left' is often confusing to foreign (and sometimes Danish) observers. The name has, however, its historical explanation. At the time of its foundation, Venstre affirmed then-progressive ideas in the Danish parliament. Their opponents, Højre (Right), the forerunner of the present-day Conservative People's Party, advocated for established interests, particularly the Church of Denmark and the landed gentry. In current Danish politics there is a clear distinction between the concepts of Venstre (Left, i.e., the party bearing that name) and venstrefløj (left wing, i.e., socialist and other left-leaning parties). The use of the word for "left" in the name of the Danish political party Radikale Venstre and the Norwegian party Venstre is meant to refer to liberalism and not socialism.

Members of the party are referred to as venstremænd and venstrekvinder, respectively "Venstre men" and "Venstre women" (singular: -mand, -kvinde).