Parallel society also in a political sense
If the voters in the Danish parallel areas alone decided the election in Denmark, much would turn out differently. Not least, the “Muslim party” the Greens would have stormed into the Folketing.
The Frie Grønne party is one of Denmark’s new left-wing parties, founded by Sikandar Siddique, Uffe Elbæk and Niko Grünfeld in 2020.
With 0.9 percent of the vote in this year’s election, it was not elected as party leader Siddique had hoped for. But it could look very different if the election had been decided on the basis of the areas that are on the Danish so-called ghetto list, now renamed parallel societies.
Who serves himself
As of 2021, 12 residential areas in Denmark are defined as parallel communities. 10 of these are also designated as “transformation areas” (previously called “hard ghetto areas”). 25 areas are uncovered as «Exposed areas» or vulnerable areas. At the same time, 62 areas have been designated as “prevention area”, according to bl.dk As is well known, the area is dense with immigrants, characterized by high unemployment, low personal income, low education and high crime.
In these areas, the Free Greens would get over 7 percent of the vote, written Everything. So a several times higher vote share and what the party achieved nationally. Especially in Gellerupparken, Vollsmose and Tingbjerg, it was popular to tick Frie Grønne, as the party received over 25 percent of the vote.
The party would therefore have stormed into the Folketing, while at national level they did not even pass the barrier (of 2 percent).
– When Frie Grønne gets more than one in four votes here, the parallels are that areas are also communities in a political sense, says Alting’s political commentator, Erik Holstein.
The socialist party Enhedslisten and the social liberal Radikale Venstre were also significantly above the national result in these 12 areas.
According to Holstein, the explanation is that the residents of the areas on the parallel society list have different political priorities than the average voter.
– While the voters as a whole have focused on general issues such as inflation, climate and health, it is probably better to focus on issues such as asylum policy, family reunification and benefits for poor families with children that arise in many parallel societies, he says.
In other words: political matters which primarily serve oneself and one’s own, without bringing it forward in a societal context.
Muslim minority project
The fact that Frie Grønne, which defines itself as an “anti-racist climate party”, is doing well in areas dense with immigrants is connected both to Sikandar Siddique, who has Pakistani roots, and the party’s focus on racism and Islam.
– Absolutely nothing indicates that the inhabitants of the affected areas care more about the climate crisis than everyone else, so when Frie Grønne gets so many votes here, it is undoubtedly because Siddique has had some success in portraying Frie Grønne as “the party of the Muslims” , says Holstein and continues:
– But it has not been enough, and that is because it is a very narrow project. The Free Greens do not appeal to voters of Indian, Tamil, Vietnamese, Filipino or Chinese background. It is a Muslim minority project, but it only appeals to a part of the Muslim community.