electionstracker

Denmark 1988 general election

What was the result of the 1988 general election in Denmark?

Social Democrats won 55 of 179 seats with 29.8% of the vote. 84.0% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Denmark
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Social Democrats won 55 of 179 seats with 29.8% of the vote; 84.0% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 2.8 points on 1987.

  • Social Democrats 55 +1 seat 29.8% +0.5 points
  • Conservative People's Party 35 −3 seats 19.3% −1.5 points
  • Socialist Peoples Party 24 −3 seats 13.0% −1.6 points
  • Venstre 22 +3 seats 11.8% +1.3 points
  • Progress Party 16 +7 seats 9.0% +4.2 points
  • Danish Social Liberal Party 10 −1 seat 5.6% −0.6 points
  • Centre Democrats 9 0 seats 4.7% −0.1 points
  • Christian Democrats 4 0 seats 2.0% −0.4 points
  • Forward (Greenland) 1 0 seats
  • People's Party (Faroe Islands) 1 0 seats
  • Solidarity (Greenland) 1 0 seats
  • Union Party (Faroe Islands) 1
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Denmark 1987 general election, party by party.

90 of 179 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 29.8%

    Share of the vote won by Social Democrats

    Social Democrats won 55 of 179 seats. A majority needs 90.

  2. +7 seats

    Seats gained by Progress Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1987. Common Course lost 4 seats.

  3. 84.0%

    Voter turnout

    Down 2.8 points on 1987.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Social Democrats55+129.8+0.5992,682
Conservative People's Party35−319.3−1.5642,048
Socialist Peoples Party24−313.0−1.6433,261
Venstre22+311.8+1.3394,190
Progress Party16+79.0+4.2298,132
Danish Social Liberal Party10−15.6−0.6185,707
Centre Democrats904.7−0.1155,464
Christian Democrats402.0−0.468,047
Common Course0−41.9−0.363,263
The Greens001.4+0.144,960
Forward (Greenland)10
People's Party (Faroe Islands)10
Solidarity (Greenland)10
Union Party (Faroe Islands)1

± is the change against the Denmark 1987 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Social Democrats 992,682
  • Conservative People's Party 642,048
  • Socialist Peoples Party 433,261
  • Venstre 394,190
  • Progress Party 298,132
  • Danish Social Liberal Party 185,707
  • Centre Democrats 155,464
  • Christian Democrats 68,047
  • Common Course 63,263
  • The Greens 44,960
  • Forward (Greenland)
  • People's Party (Faroe Islands)
  • Solidarity (Greenland)
  • Union Party (Faroe Islands)

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

84.0% of the 3,991,897 registered voters cast a ballot (3,352,651 ballots), down 2.8 points on 1987. 3,329,129 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1981 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Social Democrats29.8% of votes30.7% of seats
  • Conservative People's Party19.3% of votes19.6% of seats
  • Socialist Peoples Party13.0% of votes13.4% of seats
  • Venstre11.8% of votes12.3% of seats
  • Progress Party9.0% of votes8.9% of seats
  • Danish Social Liberal Party5.6% of votes5.6% of seats
  • Centre Democrats4.7% of votes5.0% of seats
  • Christian Democrats2.0% of votes2.2% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 2.0 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 5.8 by votes and 5.6 by seats; Social Democrats led Conservative People's Party by 10.5 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of