Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's bid to form a new government coalition broke down on Friday, jeopardizing her ambition of securing a third consecutive term in office. King Frederik has since asked Troels Lund Poulsen of the Liberal Party to take over coalition-building talks and explore options for forming a new government, which could be center-right.
The caretaker prime minister's center-left negotiations reached an impasse after more than six weeks of talks. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, leader of the Moderate Party, ended talks with Frederiksen on Friday and proposed that the task of leading the negotiations be given to Poulsen.
The political setback follows the March parliamentary elections, where Frederiksen's Social Democrats won the plurality of votes but secured only 38 seats in the 179-seat parliament. This result, down from 50 seats in 2022, marks the party's worst election performance since 1903.
Government decision-making had been slowed by the stalemate amid efforts to resolve a crisis in ties with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration over Greenland. King Frederik met with Frederiksen at 1530 GMT on Friday before the decision to shift the government-forming task to Poulsen.