Greenland's ruling Siumut party narrowly won a snap election called after it became embroiled in a graft scandal, results showed on Saturday, but it faced tough negotiations to form the next government to lead the vast Arctic island.
Friday's election was called after the Siumut-led government collapsed in September when its chief Aleqa Hammond, Greenland's first female leader, was revealed to have used public money to cover private expenses.
Despite the affair, the Social Democrat Siumut party won 34.3 percent of the votes cast, just slightly ahead of its rival leftist Inuyt Ataqatigiit (IA) with 33.2 percent, according to the Danish news agency Ritzau.
But both parties won 11 seats in the 31-member parliament, meaning Siumut will face a challenge to form a majority.
The results mean that the populist Partii Naleraq, which won 11.6 percent of the vote, and centre-right Democrats, with 11.8 percent of the vote, are in strong positions to be king-makers.
The campaign was dominated by the bleak economic outlook of the world's resource-rich largest island.
Hammond's Siumut-led coalition collapsed in September after a parliamentary audit committee found that she had used government funds to cover private expenses including family members' airline tickets and hotel mini-bar costs.
Friday's vote came just 20 months after she won a general election where full independence from former colonial master Denmark was the top campaign issue and continues to divide political parties along with disputes over mining licenses.
- Sliding economy -
But with a gross domestic product that shrank 1.9 percent to 13.6 billion kroner (1.8 billion euros, $2.3 billion)in 2013, the economy has since become an increasingly urgent issue for Greenland's 57,000 inhabitants -- of whom about 40,000 were eligible to vote.
The issue has grown in importance since it became clear that Greenland's undisputed mineral wealth will take longer to develop that initially thought meaning the island economy may be dependent for some time on an annual 3.3 billion kroner block grant from Copenhagen.
Hammond's successor at the head of Siumut was Kim Kielsen, a former police officer who has pledged to tackle the corruption and nepotism which has plagued Greenland's politics since the island gained autonomy from Denmark in 1979.
He succeeded in playing down the scandal that led to Hammond's downfall and turned the campaign's focus onto economic issues -- particularly on how to boost fishing revenues which account for 90 percent of exports, and how to promote a nascent tourism industry.
"It's great feeling that people trusted me and voted for me, that's a big responsibility that I must take upon myself," Kielsen told the Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation (KNR) which said the close result reflected deep divisions on the island nation.
Greenland’s ruling Siumut party narrowly won a snap election called after it became embroiled in a graft scandal, results showed on Saturday, but it faced tough negotiations to form the next government to lead the vast Arctic island.
Friday’s election was called after the Siumut-led government collapsed in September when its chief Aleqa Hammond, Greenland’s first female leader, was revealed to have used public money to cover private expenses.
Despite the affair, the Social Democrat Siumut party won 34.3 percent of the votes cast, just slightly ahead of its rival leftist Inuyt Ataqatigiit (IA) with 33.2 percent, according to the Danish news agency Ritzau.
But both parties won 11 seats in the 31-member parliament, meaning Siumut will face a challenge to form a majority.
The results mean that the populist Partii Naleraq, which won 11.6 percent of the vote, and centre-right Democrats, with 11.8 percent of the vote, are in strong positions to be king-makers.
The campaign was dominated by the bleak economic outlook of the world’s resource-rich largest island.
Hammond’s Siumut-led coalition collapsed in September after a parliamentary audit committee found that she had used government funds to cover private expenses including family members’ airline tickets and hotel mini-bar costs.
Friday’s vote came just 20 months after she won a general election where full independence from former colonial master Denmark was the top campaign issue and continues to divide political parties along with disputes over mining licenses.
– Sliding economy –
But with a gross domestic product that shrank 1.9 percent to 13.6 billion kroner (1.8 billion euros, $2.3 billion)in 2013, the economy has since become an increasingly urgent issue for Greenland’s 57,000 inhabitants — of whom about 40,000 were eligible to vote.
The issue has grown in importance since it became clear that Greenland’s undisputed mineral wealth will take longer to develop that initially thought meaning the island economy may be dependent for some time on an annual 3.3 billion kroner block grant from Copenhagen.
Hammond’s successor at the head of Siumut was Kim Kielsen, a former police officer who has pledged to tackle the corruption and nepotism which has plagued Greenland’s politics since the island gained autonomy from Denmark in 1979.
He succeeded in playing down the scandal that led to Hammond’s downfall and turned the campaign’s focus onto economic issues — particularly on how to boost fishing revenues which account for 90 percent of exports, and how to promote a nascent tourism industry.
“It’s great feeling that people trusted me and voted for me, that’s a big responsibility that I must take upon myself,” Kielsen told the Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation (KNR) which said the close result reflected deep divisions on the island nation.
