Danish caretaker Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced a new round of talks to form the next government would begin Sunday after she was reappointed by the king to lead the coalition negotiations.
Denmark’s royal household on Saturday issued a statement saying that King Frederik X “requested acting Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to lead negotiations on forming a government.”
Frederiksen failed to form a new coalition in the first round of negotiations before handing over to Deputy Prime Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, leader of the center-right Venstre party. Poulsen announced late Friday that the talks broke down.
“I did my best. … Now I’m going home to recharge. And yes … maybe mow some grass instead of untangling political knots,” Lund Poulsen said in a post on Instagram that included an image of him beside his lawn mower.
Frederiksen’s Social Democrats secured the most votes in the parliamentary election on March 24, but the party fell far short of a majority in the Folketing, the Danish parliament.
The negotiations have since been deadlocked, continuing for 60 days and becoming the longest government formation process in Danish history at a particularly sensitive time, as tensions involving Greenland and the United States are adding to the political pressure.