Lex Volt Danmark: Ministry of the Interior changes law to stop Volt's run

Are we even supposed to be able to run for office?

The Ministry of the Interior took 4 months to answer the Ombudsman's clarifying questions. In a parallel process, a bill was drafted with the intention of preventing Volt from standing for election with reference to our MEP.

The bill came to be called L48 and had already been in first reading when Volt received the rejection from the Ministry of the Interior on 27 October 2023.

"If you want to change something, run for office"
"If you're unhappy, vote for someone else."

These phrases are often heard from elected officials, but with democratic barriers limiting access to democratic debate, how can you challenge the political status quo?
And if you can't really challenge power, then democratic and open public debate becomes dangerously irrelevant.

For 40 years, this had been the wording of the European Parliamentary Election Act:

§10: "Parties which, at a general election held no later than six weeks before election day, have obtained representation in the Danish Parliament and which, six weeks before election day, are still represented in the Parliament, as well as parties which, at the last European Parliament election held, have obtained representation in the European Parliament and which, six weeks before election day, are still represented in the European Parliament, are entitled to participate in European Parliamentary elections."

Volt is the first pan-European party and has been represented in the European Parliament since 2019 by Damian Boeselager. Therefore, Volt asked the Ministry of the Interior to be nominated for the European Parliament elections in March 2023.

In the Ministry's 9-page refusal from 27 October 2023, they write that in 1983 they meant Danish parties - although it does not appear from the above text. They emphasise comments from the first reading of the Electoral Act in 1983, but the comments from 1983 do not mention Denmark at all.

Instead, they emphasise that parties elected to the European Parliament should not collect voter declarations, such as this comment from Aase Olesen:

"We can agree with the Minister's proposal that those already elected, the lists and parties already represented in the European Parliament can of course stand as candidates without further ado."

Surgival legislation hidden in a large package of small changes

As the first pan-European party, Volt is a new type of party in the political landscape. Volt is therefore breaking with convention by having common policies and a common executive board across the EU.

In a time that needs new thinking and where the Danish political system has seen its share of scandals, it is sad that more barriers are being put up for participation in Denmark's democracy.

L48 does the following:

• increases the number of voter declarations required for regional elections

• Removes the right of British people to vote in European Parliament elections

• Make it harder to recognise electoral lists for local and regional elections

• and remove the possibility for pan-European parties to stand in Denmark with the following stroke of the pen: In the heading of chapter 3, in section 10(1) and section 22, first sentence, after ‘election’ insert: ‘of Danish members’

L48 also contains support for the organisation of Ukrainian elections in Denmark and the collection of a total of 15 proposals also means that the Ministry of the Interior can present the law as a great democratic strengthening with one hand, while with the other they exclude Volt, a party already in the European Parliament, from running and participating in the European Parliament elections.

Volt was founded to counter the right-wing turn in European politics, nationalism and to strengthen European co-operation among citizens. The Danish law has remained unchanged since 1983 and it is remarkable that the Danish state does so much to stop democratic innovation in a time of so much need for change.