Unusual election campaign in Greenland: Parties compete for votes

Nuuk. The early federal election has given Germany an election campaign in the middle of winter. In Greenland, too, the parties are currently canvassing for voters' votes, primarily on the Internet. With temperatures in the double-digit minus range, you look in vain for party stands in the small pedestrian zone of the island's capital, Nuuk, which has a population of around 20,000. There are no hard-working party members anywhere to hand out flyers and pens to passers-by.

There are also no posters with the faces of the leading candidates hanging on the street lamps. In the bitterly cold wind and snow flurries, they probably wouldn't last long anyway. A few posters are only likely to be put up a few days before the election.

Instead, it is primarily Facebook where the short and intensive Greenlandic election campaign is taking place before the parliamentary elections on March 11. Among other things, the parties are drawing attention to themselves with specially composed election campaign songs: the top politicians sing about the values ​​and positions they stand for.

Inunnguaq Petrussen composed the liberal party's election campaign song Atassut.

Source: Thomas Paterjey

The song of the liberal party Atassut, which currently has the smallest parliamentary group with two MPs, was written by Inunnguaq Petrussen. The 38-year-old social scientist has already worked for the Greenland Public Broadcasting Company (KNR) and two other parties. He has been with Atassut since 2017 and is playing a key role in organizing the election campaign this year as party secretary. In the music video, he plays the guitar and sings along, as does party leader Aqqalu Jerimiassen.

Petrussen does not believe that Facebook's algorithm treats the content of the various parties differently and thus does not create equal opportunities. Basically, no one in Greenland lives in their own bubble, he says. In fact, the whole island is just a bubble. "We are a small country." Petrussen is certain that the platform provides everyone with the content they are interested in. Critical voices about the role of Facebook and other social media are also not heard in discussions with voters.

Continue with Denmark or soon more closely at Trump's side? On March 11, voters in Greenland can decide which parties will be in power in Nuuk in the future and what course their country will take.

This is striking. At the same time, the Chinese video platform Tiktok is seen as an immense security risk in the USA. Politicians and experts have long warned that China's government could use Tiktok to manipulate public opinion. In addition, Facebook and others have been eliminating fact-checking and moderating posts since Donald Trump began his second term as US president.

In Germany, many companies and public institutions are withdrawing from tech billionaire Elon Musk's Platform X. Musk conducted a widely read "interview" with AfD chancellor candidate Alice Weidel, in which she was able to describe Hitler as a communist.

However, there is already an awareness of the dangers of foreign powers influencing the parliamentary elections in Greenland. In its last session before the new elections were called, parliament hastily passed a law that prohibits parties and politicians from accepting foreign donations. The bill was introduced by Prime Minister Múte B. Egede in order to "preserve the political integrity of Greenland".

Even anonymous donations from one's own country are only permitted up to a maximum of 1,000 Danish kroner, which is around 135 euros. Because even with relatively small sums, so one hears in Nuuk, it is possible to generate a lot of visibility in the social media election campaign in Greenland.

In fact, the period in which the parties canvass for votes is particularly short in this election. Due to the tense foreign policy situation with Donald Trump's demand to bring Greenland under US control, the politicians agreed on a much earlier date for the election, which would have been due this spring anyway. Normally there must be a full six weeks between the election date being set and the actual election day. This time it is just under five.

A total of six parties are vying for voters with a total of 213 candidates. The radical independence party Naleraq has nominated most of them with 62 candidates. This is the maximum number of names allowed on a list. In the parliament known as Inatsisartut (which can be translated as "those who make laws") there are a total of 31 places to be filled. The legislative period lasts four years, as in Germany.

Unlike in Germany, voters have only one vote, not two. With this vote, they can either vote for a party's nationwide list or vote directly for the candidate. This is often someone who comes from the same place as you, or someone who is related to you, for example, friends.

In general, politicians are very approachable these days. Prime Minister Egede posted a photo of his newborn daughter's face on his Facebook page on February 12 and wrote: "What a great feeling of happiness we had this morning." So far, a third of his approximately 12,000 followers have left congratulations under the photo.

Instead, the channel of his party, Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), is about concrete politics. Its main election promise is a reform of the law on Greenlandic self-government in order to "become master in one's own house," as Egede himself likes to put it. The goal is complete independence from the Kingdom of Denmark. But the Prime Minister's party is taking the stance of not rushing anything.

The previous coalition partner Siumut is striking a completely different tone: party leader Erik Jensen promises his voters that he will negotiate with Denmark about the island's independence immediately after the election. There is no need to wait for commissions and their audit reports. Anyone who votes for him, says Jensen, will ensure that there is soon a referendum on secession from Copenhagen. The people of Greenland can therefore actually influence the verve with which their politicians approach the issue of independence in the future.