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| Europe |
| Danish far right surges on cartoon controversy |
| 2006-02-13 |
| The Far Right in Denmark has been boosted by the international outcry over the blasphemous cartoons, according to a poll on Sunday in Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper which first published the offending drawings. The extreme right Danish PeopleÂ’s Party (PPD), the liberal-conservative governmentÂ’s only parliamentary ally, has registered a surge in popularity with 17.8 percent of voting intentions or 32 seats, against 13.3 percent and 24 seats in elections this time last year. The Liberal Party of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was credited with 28.3 percent (0.7 percent down) and the Conservative Party 9.4 percent (-0.9 percent) in the poll carried out on February 6 to 8. The right-wing bloc in parliament has gained overall from the crisis, increasing its share of voting intentions to 55.5 percent and 100 of the 179 seats in the single-chamber parliament against 42.3 percent and 75 seats for the centre-left opposition. In the February 2005 elections, the right won 52.6 percent of the vote and 94 seats, against 44.4 percent and 81 seats for the opposition. The Social Democratic party, the main opposition grouping, has come out of the crisis severely weakened, according to the poll, with a fall of 4.2 percent of support, giving it 21.6 percent of voting intentions and nine fewer seats than the 38 it won in the last elections. Analysts attributed the fall in support to Social Democratic criticism of RasmussenÂ’s handling of the crisis. In the furore over the cartoons Denmark has seen in the Middle East its embassies torched, its flag burned, its products boycotted and have been the focus of violent demonstrations in which a number of protestors have been killed. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #12 Nope, the PM just reiterated his support for the 'Palestinians'. |
| Posted by: Quatermass 2006-02-13 20:33 |
| #11 I would be more supportive of Denmark but for the fact that, in the past decade or so, they have ranged from neutral on Palestinian terrorism to apologists for it. Maybe this will change too. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-02-13 15:03 |
| #10 if I wuz an Imam in Denmark, looking for funding from the Saudis, I might be happy to see the DPP grow in its poll numbers "see, we're besieged, besieged I tell ya" |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-02-13 14:54 |
| #9 And, more Spam ! |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-02-13 14:30 |
| #8 ihadis have lots of problems with unintended consequences. This is a direct outgrowth of being unable to understand the law of Cause & Effect. That in'shallah crap doestn't have a very fine grain to its reality and a lot of subsurface mechanisms tend to operate rather freely as a result. More cartoons, more riots, more tramplings and more westerners realizing just how endangered their world actually is, please. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-02-13 12:22 |
| #7 New, improved Danish school lunches: Now with Spam! |
| Posted by: ed 2006-02-13 10:15 |
| #6 #5. One of those unintended consequences is the reversal of the Committee for Education and Youth's 2001 decision to only use halal meat for school hot lunch dishes. Out of consideration to pupils with a moslem background there is presently only halal-butchered meat - and no pork at all - in the daily hot meals which are offered in the canteens of the 49 schools run by the council of Copenhagen. That is changing. Go here for a translation of the Jyllands- Posten article: "Showdown about halal-meat in schoolchildrenÂ’s lunch" and here for a column on how the Muslims are wearing out their welcome in Denmark. |
| Posted by: GK 2006-02-13 10:04 |
| #5 Jihadis have lots of problems with unintended consequences. I'm sure OBL never expected to lose Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2006-02-13 08:59 |
| #4 It's not every day you see someone use the word genuflecting. |
| Posted by: Spairong Elmoluque3235 2006-02-13 08:21 |
| #3 Ya know, I don't think the cartoon controversy is what boosted the "far right". It was the Muslim reaction that did it, coupled with the left's genuflecting to Islam. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-02-13 07:52 |
| #2 Cause from where they stand everything is right. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-02-13 06:39 |
| #1 Why do they never refer to the 'far left'? |
| Posted by: gromky 2006-02-13 06:25 |