Fashioning a Danish government

Fashioning a Danish government-Social Democrats leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt arrives at the Parliament in Copenhagen, Denmark, yesterday. She started work creating a government from a scattered "red bloc" that won this week's parliamentary elections.The left-leaning leader who is slated to become Denmark's first female prime minister was once derided within her own ranks as "Gucci Helle" because of her taste for designer clothes and accessories.

After returning the Social Democrats to power following 10 years in opposition, no one questions Helle Thorning-Schmidt's credentials as leader of a party sprung from Denmark's labor movement in 1871. But the 44-year-old mother of two still faces doubts about her ability to act as a unifying figure for the diverse "red bloc" that won Thursday's election, and for Denmark as a whole.

Tall, blonde and elegantly dressed, Thorning-Schmidt projected confidence and poise during meetings with voters, and handled media with wit and a disarming smile. The question is whether she can convince parties that don't agree on the taxes and welfare cuts needed to shore up public finances.

Thorning-Schmidt had been a lawmaker in the European Parliament in Brussels for five years when she was elected the Social Democrats leader in 2005.


"She's quite an international person," said Kasper Hansen, of the University of Copenhagen.

"She's not so experienced with Danish politics, in terms of negotiating within Parliament," he said. "That will be her big challenge."

Her inexperience in domestic politics showed off in the 2007 election, when she was outshone by her main opponent, the polished Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Rasmussen's departure to head NATO gave her a more humble adversary on the center-right, Lars Loekke Rasmussen. In debates leading up to Thursday's vote, Thorning-Schmidt came across as more organized and charismatic than Loekke Rasmussen, a former finance minister who embarrassed Denmark with weak leadership of the botched UN climate summit in Copenhagen two years ago.

Now she must apply a different skill set in thorny government formation talks with left-wing and centrist partners.