(AFP) – Nov 12, 2007

COPENHAGEN (AFP) — Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's centre-right bloc won Tuesday's election with the slimmest possible majority and will now seek to form a broader but possibly shakier alliance.

"We have received a mandate to continue our work ... I want to seek a broad majority in parliament and I will invite all the parties who supported the government in for talks on a joint program," Rasmussen told supporters after declaring victory.

Rasmussen's Liberal-Conservative minority coalition has governed with the support of the far-right anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP) since 2001.

Together the three parties were expected to win 89 seats, one shy of a majority, with 100 percent of votes on the mainland counted. They were expected to gain one more seat from the autonomous Faroe Islands, where results had yet to be tallied.

The prime minister's invite was pointed directly at the newly-formed centre-right New Alliance, whose five seats would be a welcome boost to Rasmussen's bloc.

But New Alliance has said it would support Rasmussen in return for, among other things, a more humane refugee policy -- a demand not expected to sit well with the far-right, which has Rasmussen's ear as Denmark's third-biggest party.

"I think we'll be invited to the talks," said New Alliance's leader Naser Khader, who created his party with the aim of reducing the DPP's influence on the government.

Thorny negotiations were expected in the days ahead on building a broad alliance, but political analysts have already expressed doubts about the longevity of a centre-right bloc that depends on the support of both the far-right and New Alliance.

Some have even suggested that such an alliance would be so shaky that new elections could be called again within a year.

The far-right and New Alliance have diametrically opposed views on refugee policy notably, which along with the welfare state dominated the election campaign.

Rasmussen's government, heavily influenced by the far-right, has since it came to power in 2001 introduced some of the most restrictive immigration laws in Europe, drastically reducing the number of refugees coming to Denmark from 10,000 in 2001 to fewer than 2,000 last year.

The far-right campaigned virulently against Muslims and for freedom of expression in the wake of last year's global row over the publication in a Danish newspaper of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

Rasmussen, meanwhile, campaigned on his strong economic record, arguing that the country's robust economy with record low unemployment was the best guarantor of the Danes' cherished welfare state.

Khader is expected to be a difficult negotiator for the prime minister.

He has insisted that Rasmussen formally step down, which he is not required to do, and to ask Queen Margarethe to officially designate a negotiator to sound out the political parties on building a government.

"We want to start with a clean slate," Khader said.

A total of 86.6 percent of eligible Danes voted in the election.

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