Greenlanders will go to the polls on Tuesday to elect 31 members of the Inatsisartut (local parliament).
Due to challenging weather conditions, ballots are being transported to the island by helicopter and to the most remote settlements by snowmobile. Votes are counted manually and results are transmitted by email or satellite. If weather permits, the results of this year’s election will be known by Wednesday.
The results of that vote will determine the makeup of Greenland’s new government, which will have to forge a dialogue with Copenhagen and Washington, which claims control of the island. Last week, in his first address to Congress, the 47th US president, Donald Trump, noted that America “one way or another” needs to “get” Greenland, he has previously even allowed the use of force to that end.
Currently, five of the six parties that make up the parliament are in favour of a referendum on independence and gaining autonomy from Denmark.
Earlier, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen publicly supported the right of Greenlanders to decide on their independence.
Nevertheless, there are internal divisions in Greenland on this issue. For example, the economy and the functioning of public services are still heavily dependent on Denmark. In addition, the island has no army of its own, and the authorities have no intention of creating one.
According to a survey commissioned by the Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq in January this year, 85 per cent of residents refuse to leave Denmark to become Americans. At the same time, 84 per cent of the islanders want independence from Copenhagen.
