Copenhagen : Greenland’s ruling Siumut party has won the parliamentary elections by a narrow margin, official data showed.
With all votes counted early Saturday morning, the social democratic Siumut party headed by Kim Kielsen won 34.3 percent of the vote, or 10,102 ballots, while the left-wing party of Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), led by Sara Olsvig, mustered 33.2 percent of the vote with 9,776 ballots in favour, Xinhua reported citing Danish news agency Ritzau.
Acting Prime Minister Kielsen received the most individual votes within the Siumut party, while opposition leader Olsvig was the top scorer in the elections, with 5,825 individual votes.
The two largest political parties both garnered 11 of the 31 parliamentary seats, but the Siumut party saw its support drop almost 10 percent from last year’s general election.
Neither Siumut in cooperation with the Atassut party nor the IA along with the social liberal party Democrats can muster the necessary majority of 16 seats, giving the smaller parties a crucial role in the upcoming negotiations to form a coalition government.