In the last few months, the phenomenon of fake news has come to Greenland. Ads posted on Facebook, Greenland’s main social network, variously suggested that two prominent politicians had either been sued by the Bank of Greenland or physically attacked, or that Elon Musk was offering payments to Greenlandic citizens. These cases were financial scams rather than politically motivated disinformation, but their emergence shows how much interest the 2025 Greenlandic election campaign attracted.
Most of the international focus was devoted to the storm caused by Donald Trump’s repeated insistence on acquiring the island “one way or the other,” having previously declared that Greenlanders “want to be with us.” An opinion poll conducted in January showed 85 percent of Greenlanders did not agree, a notion that was in part reinforced by the election results. The two largest parties after the poll are unlikely to agree on international relations but have much in common when it comes to domestic issues.
Gaining around 30 percent of the votes in a surprise victory, the performance of the center-right Demokraatit (the Democrats) shocked even their own leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen. Demokraatit are the least eager of the five pro-independence parties that contested the election, favoring gradual progress toward an eventual referendum by adopting business-friendly policies and creating a low-tax environment. Those who opted for them did not vote to leap into Donald Trump’s open arms.
The performance of the center-right Demokraatit shocked even their own…
Auteur: Huw Paige
