CNN —
Greenland’s pro-business opposition party won the Arctic island’s closely-watched parliamentary election on Tuesday, following a race dominated both by US President Donald Trump’s annexation threat and growing calls from residents for independence from Denmark.
The Demokraatik party, which advocates for a slower approach to independence, won with 29.9% of the vote, according to official results.
The incumbent ruling party Inuit Ataqatigiit and its coalition partner Siumut won a combined 36.1% of the vote. Inuit Ataqatagiit, a democratic socialist party, views independence as a long-term project requiring years of negotiation with Denmark and further economic improvement.
Meanwhile the main opposition party Naleraq, which campaigned to sever ties with Denmark more quickly, won 24.5%.
All the dominant parties in Greenland, a Danish autonomous region rich in oil and gas, agree on the desire for independence from Denmark. In almost every election in recent years, Greenland’s politicians have promised to take steps to achieve autonomy – but none of them have offered a concrete timeline.
This year, Trump’s idea to annex the territory has thrown an international spotlight on the election and raised questions about the island’s future security as the United States, Russia and China vie for influence in the Arctic.
Speaking about Greenland in his speech to Congress last week, Trump said, “I think we’re going to get it one way or the other” – reigniting fears of the United States attempting to take the island by force or economic coercion.
Analysts say the president’s aggressive stance has actually given the Arctic territory more bargaining power with Denmark, and kicked the independence movement into high gear.
Denmark ruled Greenland as a colony until 1953, when the island achieved greater powers of self-governance. Then, in 2009, it gained more powers pertaining to minerals, policing and courts of law. But Denmark still controls security, defense, foreign and monetary policy. Greenland also benefits from Denmark’s European Union and NATO memberships.
While Greenlandic politicians have repeatedly signaled that they’re uninterested in annexation, they are open to deals with the United States for rare earth mining, expanding tourism, stronger diplomatic connections and other investments.
The United States already has a military base in the Arctic Circle in far northwest Greenland.
A poll in January, commissioned by Danish and Greenlandic newspapers, found that 85% of Greenlanders did not want to become part of the US, with nearly half saying Trump’s interest was a threat, Reuters reported.
“I strongly believe that we will very soon start to live a life more based on who we are, based on our culture, based on our own language, and start to make regulations based on us, not based on Denmark,” said Naleraq candidate Qupanuk Olsen, according to Reuters.
