Denmark votes as polls show swing to the left

Danes came out in droves Thursday to vote in a general election expected to bring the centre-left back to power after a decade in opposition and deliver the country's first woman prime minister. Polls have consistently suggested that Helle Thorning-Schmidt, 44, who heads the Social Democrats and a broad centre-left coalition, will turf current Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, 47, out of office. Thorning-Schmidt, the daughter-in-law of British Labour politician Neil Kinnock, has vowed to shore up Denmark's welfare state and stimulate its slumping economy with spending, in contrast to the austerity measures proposed by Rasmussen. A loss for the coalition government, made up of Rasmussen's Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, would also end the powerful influence wielded by the populist, anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP). For 10 years, the DPP has pressured the centre-right coalition to adopt some of Euorpe's most draconian immigration and integration regulations, in exchange for its support on other issues in parliament. Under a clear blue sky, long lines stretched outside the polling station in the working-class Copenhagen neighbourhood of Valby, as many voters cast their ballots early before heading to work. One of them was Rukshana, a 50-year-old daycare worker who did not want to give her last name. "I'm voting for the red bloc (centre-left), because they are good for the Danish population. We have had enough of (DPP leader) Pia Kjaersgaard," said the Danish citizen of Pakistani origin. While she touched on the once-heated issue of immigration, the election campaign primarily focused on how to stir the country out of the slump caused by the global financial crisis. Lars Munck, a 53-year-old union representative, said he was disappointed with the centre-right's economic policies and would vote for the Social Democrats. "Denmark has lost ground on a lot of areas compared to other European countries. Our ability to create jobs, and on education, for instance," he said. In southern Denmark, there was meanwhile some drama when a school used as a polling station was evacuated due to a mysterious powder that made several people ill. Police suspected it might be left-over fire extinguisher powder used to put out a fire several years ago, but voting had to be moved to a nearby church. By noon, a fourth of Denmark's more than four million eligible voters had already cast their ballot, according to a Ritzau news agency poll of 300,000 people, and total turnout is expected to be even higher than in 2007, when it ticked in at 86.5 percent. A slew of opinion polls Thursday handed the left-leaning opposition, made up of the Social Democrats, Social Liberals, Socialist People's Party and Red Greens a clear lead over the government and its parliamentary supporters, the DPP, the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Alliance. They indicated the centre-left would win between 90 and 92 seats in Denmark's 179-seat parliament, against between 83 and 85 seats for the centre-right. Denmark's autonomous territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands hold two seats each. Rasmussen however insisted he was not ready to give up. "I will be on the campaign trail until the polling booths close," he told AFP after casting his vote at the small hamlet of Graested, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Copenhagen, covered in campaign posters showing his smiling face. The clearly pro-Rasmussen village even sported a whiteboard offering "50 percent off on your next car service if you vote for Lars". In Copenhagen, where large parts of the centre have already been closed to traffic in anticipation of next week's world road race cycling championships, Thorning-Schmidt meanwhile cast her vote in the upscale neighbourhood of Osterbro. "Now its up to the voters. We have run a very hard and good campaign," the as always impeccably dressed party chief told reporters, adding with a smile: "I will be voting for the Social Democrats."