Our endorsement for the Danish general election 

Danes go the polls on Thursday to choose a new parliament and decide if they give Helle Thorning-Schmidt another mandate as Prime Minister. Irrespective of which major party comes on top and is able to form a stable government --whether Ms. Thorning-Schmidt's center-left Social Democrats or Lars Lokke Rasmussen's center-right Venstre--, we believe the Danish parliament would do well having a strong dose of classical liberalism in it.

During the past four years, Ms. Thorning-Schmidt has led a pragmatic, centrist government alongside the centrist Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), and that should be commended. However, the center-left still lacks the impulse to implement the kind of reforms Denmark needs to become more competitive and open. On the other hand, the conservative liberal opposition from Venstre shares our vision of more competitiveness and liberalization on the economy, but is currently pandering to the right on immigration and open borders. 

There's only one party currently presenting a clear, freedom-oriented program for the Danish electorate: Liberal Alliance. Anders Samuelsen's party has campaigned on a bold, strong agenda of liberalization. The party proposes to streamline the Danish public sector, raise the retirement age to 68, lower taxes so no Danes have to pay tax on the first 7,000 kroner they earn per month, cut corporate taxes to 12.5%, introduce more choice in public services including schools and decriminalize drug use, among other things. Moreover, the party is not pandering to the populists of the Danish People's Party when it comes to defending a Denmark open to immigrants. 

We know Mr. Samuelsen will not be the next Prime Minister. We also know that either Ms. Thorning-Schmidt or Mr. Lokke Rasmussen would be a fine PM. So the real issue for us here is which party should get our vote in order to have a freedom-oriented voice in the Danish parliament. There is no question in our minds that Liberal Alliance is the right answer. If we had a vote on Thursday's election, we would give it to Mr. Samuelsen's party.