She has previously voted for the Social Democrats, but this time she will cast her vote for the Unity List – a left-wing party that is running for election on cheaper housing and fewer parking spaces.
I don't necessarily think it's me who has changed, says Merete Pedersen, who believes that the Social Democrats have become too "right-wing".
We need something new. It has become too expensive to live in Copenhagen.
Populist
On the streets of the Danish capital, puppy posters are plastered on every other lamppost. The far-left Free Green Party promises everything from "free public transport" to "stopping capitalism."
Christoffer Rasmussen thinks it is so populist that he will vote for a centrist party.
It's easy to promise a lot of things, but then it's another thing to be able to get it through, and what is realistic, he says.
Criticism from right-wing parties against left-wing parties' demands for cheaper housing has not been long in coming.
Lars Boje Mathiesen from the "Citizens' Party" has called the Unity List's proposal for rent regulation "communist" while Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) has criticized the party for voting against previous proposals to build more housing.
“Huge loss of prestige”
According to electoral researcher Kasper Møller, opinion polls indicate that three parties on the left – where the Unity Party is expected to be the largest – could form a majority for the first time without the Social Democrats.
"We know that the Social Democrats will lose voters. That is also the case in the country as a whole, although the loss is greater in Copenhagen," says Møller, emphasizing that today's election is an indication of what to expect in the parliamentary elections that will probably be held next year.
If S loses the post of Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, it will be a huge loss of prestige.
Footnote: For two days in October 2004, Hellen Hedemann from the Socialist People's Party held the post, then as acting mayor.
