Danish PM-elect agrees to form 3-party govt

COPENHAGEN: Denmark's Prime Minster-elect Helle Thorning-Schmidt said on Sunday she had agreed with political allies to form a three-party coalition government after winning an election two weeks ago.

Thorning-Schmidt, leader of the Social Democrats, said she had completed a policy programme and would inform Queen Margrethe later on Sunday that she was ready to form a government.

"It is a very good government programme which will bring Denmark forward," Thorning-Schmidt said on TV2 News as she arrived at the Danish parliament at Christiansborg Palace.

The new centre-left government will consist of Thorning-Schmidt's party, the Socialist People's Party and the Social Liberals.

Thorning-Schmidt, whose "Red bloc" alliance unseated Liberal Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in the Sept. 15 ballot, said she would announce the new government's policy programme and new ministers on Monday.

The new government will rely for parliamentary support on the far-left Red-Green Alliance party, which made strong gains in the election but was not included in the negotiations to form the government.

With the Red-Green Alliance, the new coalition government will have a majority of 92 seats in the 179-seat parliament.

Thorning-Schmidt, who will be Denmark's first female prime minister, campaigned on a plan to kickstart economic growth by increasing public spending but to balance the budget by 2020.

Copyright Reuters, 2011