With all votes counted Wednesday, the left-leaning Community of the People party (Inuit Ataqatigiit) had secured 37% of the votes, entitling it to 12 seats in the Greenlandic national assembly, the 31-seat Inatsisartut.
Its biggest rival, the ruling center-left Forward (Siumut) party took the the second spot with 29% of the votes, giving it 10 seats in the legislature.
In a victory speech, Community of the People chairman Mute Egede pointed to themes which made his party, running on a strong environmental agenda, to stand out among voters.
“There are two issues that have been important in this election campaign: people’s living conditions is one. And then there is our health and the environment,” said Egede, a 34-year-old native of Nuuk,
The result means a power shift and an end to Forward’s long reign at the top of politics in
“We congratulate the Inuit Ataqatigiit (Community of the People’s party) on the election. We are now excited about what the (coalition) negotiations will bring in the coming days,” Jensen said in a statement as quoted by the Danish broadcaster TV2.
Without an absolute majority in the
At the heart of the election was a proposed international mining project by
Apart from uranium, estimates show the Kvanefjeld mine could hold the largest deposit of rare-earth metals outside
While the Forward party has taken a cautiously positive stance on the mining project, Community of the People’s Egede reiterated Wednesday that his party's opposition to the project and urged it to be stopped for environmental reasons.
“We must listen to the voters who are worried. We say no to uranium mining," Egede said in a statement to KNR.
Election voter turnout wasn't immediately disclosed.
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