Faroe Islands Parliamentary Election - September 1, 2015

[DavidB.]

So apart from Alberta, the left has now also won Faroe

[DavidB.]

Question. I might be ignorant, but why are there so many people who want to leave the union with Denmark?

[DavidB.]

Question. I might be ignorant, but why are there so many people who want to leave the union with Denmark?

They are a nation with their own culture, traditions and language etc. (and fiercely proud of both). Plus they are much smaller than DK and unable to influence Danish political decisions.

They are also outside of the EU and have a completely different type of economy.

Sounds all reasonable. I didn't even know that they had their own language, being even closer related to Icelandic/Old Norse than to Danish.

I looked at politiken.dk, my main source for Denmark-related news, and expected the election to be at least one of the main issues. Turned out it was quite hard to find anything about it. I would be pissed if I were Faroese Then again, if I think about it, I don't know much about politics on the Antilles either. Of course, these cases are very different, but still...

Don't they have less to do with the EU than any other overseas territory of an EU member state?

Yes, they are not part of the EU and neither are they part of the EU-recognized Overseas Countries and Territories (the Dutch Antilles are, for example). In fact, the Faroese Prime Minister visited Moscow to enhance bilateral trade relations when the EU announced a trade embargo with Russia. Faroese export to Russia increased dramatically. (I only just learned this).

[DavidB.]

Are Danish gay marriages recognized in Faroe?

[DavidB.]

Interesting situation (though also pretty sad for Faroese gays, let's hope this will be solved soon). The Netherlands had a comparable complicated situation with the Antilles, which initially declined to recognize Dutch gay marriages - until several court rulings obliged them to do so on the basis of the Charter of the Kingdom.

[DavidB.]

Annika Olsen from PP, who got the second most votes, has decided to leave the party. She is from Torshavn and basically says there are too many SoCons/Hard Right in the new group. That "despite her good personal election the leaderships policy won the election and Liberal values lost out." Also claims she still believes in the party platform (which says PP is a Liberal, democratic and social party..).

She probably didn't know this two weeks ago

[DavidB.]

I've not much to contribute, but I really enjoy every bit of this thread and of the enormous amount of information you provide on this fascinating little country. Thanks for that, politicus!

[DavidB.]

A referendum on this would all of a sudden make the Faroese a lot more well-known in the world. Sadly, probably not in a positive way...