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Social Democrats Socialdemokraterne
Leader	Helle Thorning-Schmidt
Founded	1871
Headquarters	Danasvej 7 1910 Frederiksberg C
Official ideology/ political position	Social democracy
International affiliation	Party of European Socialists
Website	http://www.socialdemokraterne.dk

Social Democratic election poster (early or mid-20th century)

Social Democratic election poster, October 1945

The Social Democrats (in Danish: Socialdemokratiet or Socialdemokraterne), is a Danish political party. After the election of 2007, it is still the second largest party with 25.5% of votes and 45 seats. Since the Social Democrats were last in government, ending 2001, it is the first time the Social Democrats are not the most popular party since the end of World War II. The party is currently led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and it is a member of the Party of European Socialists and the Socialist International. It has five MEPs in the European Parliament, an increase of three after the election in 2004. The increase was mainly supported by the large number of voters who voted for former party leader and Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

The Social Democrats' social policy through the 1990s and continuing in the 21st century involved a significant redistribution of income and the maintenance of a large state apparatus with collectively financed core services such as healthcare, education and infrastructure.

Social Democrat-led coalition governments (the Cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen I, II, III, IV) implemented the system known as flexicurity (flexibility and social security), mixing strong Scandinavian unemployment benefits with a more lax regulation of employment, making it easier for employers to fire people in order to encourage economic growth and reduce unemployment. It is required for people to continually try to remain an active part of the job force in order to receive benefits if they lose their job. This plan has proven to be successful at reducing unemployment,^{[citation needed]} and it has been proposed as a plausible model for other European countries such as France.

The Cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen maintained a parliamentary majority during the period from 1993 to 2001 by virtue of their support from the Socialist People's Party and the Red-Green Alliance.

Towards the end of the 1990s, a trade surplus of 30 billion kroner (USD 4.9 billion) turned into a deficit.^{[citation needed]} To combat this, the government increased taxes, limiting private consumption. The 1998 initiative, which was dubbed the Whitsun Packet (Danish: Pinsepakken) from the season it was issued, was not universally popular with the electorate, which may have been a factor in the Social Democrats' defeat in the 2001 parliamentary election.

After the defeat to the Liberal Party in the 2001 election, the party chairmanship went to former finance and foreign minister Mogens Lykketoft. Following another defeat in the January 2005 election, Lykketoft announced his resignation as party leader, and at an extraordinary congress on 12 March, it was decided that all members of the party would cast votes in an election of a new party leader. The two contenders for the leadership represented the two wings in the party, with Helle Thorning-Schmidt being viewed as centrist and Frank Jensen being viewed as slightly more left-wing. On 12 April 2005 Helle Thorning-Schmidt was elected as the new leader.

• 1871 - 1872: Louis Pio
• 1872 - 1873: Carl Würtz
• 1874 - 1875: Ernst Wilhelm Klein
• 1875 - February 1877: Louis Pio
• 1877 February - July 1878: Chresten Hørdum
• 1878 February-July: A.C. Meyer
• 1878 - 1879: Saxo W. Wiegell
• 1880 - 1882: Chresten Hørdum
• 1882 - 1910: Peter Christian Knudsen
• 1910 - 1939: Thorvald Stauning
• 1939 - 1955: Hans Hedtoft (Alsing Andersen as de-facto leader in 1941-1945)
• 1955 - 1960: H. C. Hansen
• 1960 - 1962: Viggo Kampmann
• 1962 - 1972: Jens Otto Krag (Erling Dinesen as de-facto leader from October 1972 to September 1973)
• 1973 - 1987: Anker Jørgensen
• 1987 - 1992: Svend Auken
• 1992 - 2002: Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
• 2002 - 2005: Mogens Lykketoft
• 2005 -  : Helle Thorning-Schmidt

• Politics of Denmark
• List of political parties in Denmark
• Social Democratic Youth of Denmark - DSU

• The Danish Social Democrats – official English website

v • d • e Political parties in Denmark
Represented in the Folketing:	Venstre (46) · Social Democrats (45) · Danish People's Party (25) · Socialist People's Party (23) · Conservative People's Party (17) · Danish Social Liberal Party (9) · New Alliance (5) · Red-Green Alliance (4) · Siumut (Greenland) (1) · Inuit Ataqatigiit (Greenland) (1) · Union Party (Faroe Islands) (1) · Republican Party (Faroe Islands) (1) · Independent (1)
Represented in the European Parliament:	Social Democrats (5) · Venstre (3) · Conservative People's Party (1) · Danish Social Liberal Party (1) · Danish People's Party (1) · Socialist People's Party (1) · June Movement (1) · People's Movement against the EU (1)
Portal:Politics · List of political parties · Politics of Denmark