DENMARK: Danes are likely to reward their prime minister in tomorrow's election with a second term for cutting taxes and immigration, ignoring a security warning linked to the country's military presence in Iraq.
Iraq and the terror threat have taken backseat in the campaign in which Liberal Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his main opponent, Social Democrat leader Mogens Lykketoft, have tried to outdo each other in making welfare pledges. Around 2,000 people protested in the Danish capital against the war on Saturday, but Mr Rasmussen has vowed to keep the 500 Danish troops in Iraq as long as needed.
A Gallup poll published yesterday gave the government and allies such as the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party 96 of the 179 seats in parliament. The Social Democrats look set for their worst result in 30 years.
Mr Rasmussen's centre-right coalition came to power in a landslide victory in 2001 promising to reduce the flow of migrants into Denmark and to cap the country's high taxes. Since then, the number of asylum-seekers has plummeted by 80 per cent and taxes have been cut. - (Reuters)