Immigration focus of Danish poll

Rasmussen gambled on snap election

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Immigration is the key issue as Danes go to the polls to elect a new government on Tuesday.

The snap election was called by Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen last month when his popularity was soaring on the back of his support for the U.S.-led fight against terror.

Since then his support has slipped over internal wrangling on the immigration issue.

Opinion polls point to an end to the nine-year rule of the Social Democrats with victory going to the centre-right opposition, the Liberal Party, led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The election battle has also centred around personalities, and has been dubbed the "presidential election" by local media. Many voters said they are ready for a government change.

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"We need new energy, a new engine and Fogh Rasmussen is fitting that description," Grethe Hansen, a 57-year-old retired cook, told The Associated Press.

The nation of 5.3 million people halted open immigration in 1973 but still allows relatives and political asylum-seekers.

The key issue in the campaign -- family reunification -- is seen by critics as a backdoor route for spouses and their children to take advantage of generous benefits in the prosperous country.

Both Social Democrats and Liberals have promised to tighten the law. But while the ruling party wants to study the issue, the Liberals are calling for faster measures, including a seven-year waiting period before new arrivals can tap into the country's social welfare system.

Fogh Rasmussen played down criticism of xenophobia, saying he only feared the prized cradle-to-welfare benefits were being exploited.

"After seven years in Denmark, a foreigner can access welfare," he said on Monday in a final debate among party leaders.

"That will be a way to protect our welfare."

Nyrup Rasmussen replied: "There is a terrible risk that Denmark will be ruled by the far-right after the election," adding that Denmark would "not be such a harmonious society" under Fogh Rasmussen.

Euro blow

An estimated 25 percent of the potential four million Danish voters are still undecided, but political pundits are forecasting a Liberal victory, possibly under a coalition with the Conservatives and two small centre parties.

Opinion polls show that Fogh Rasmussen's centre-right bloc is likely to win between 96 and 100 seats in parliament, against 75 to 79 for the ruling Social Democrats, their Radical Liberal coalition partner and leftist supporters.

The anti-immigration Danish People's Party has promised to support Fogh Rasmussen to give the coalition the necessary 90-seat majority.

Fewer than 5 percent of Denmark's 5.3 million population are former asylum-seekers.

Nyrup Rasmussen suffered a blow at the polls last year when Danes voted "no" against joining the Euro -- a move the prime minister had backed.

The Social Democrats leader came to power in January 1993 after a scandal brought down the previous Conservative-Liberal government.

The 58-year-old had been party leader for just one year when he ended his party's 11-year political isolation.

Fogh Rasmussen, 48, became leader of the Liberal Party in 1998 and subsequently moved the party from its previous hardline stance to a more centre-right position.

The son of a farmer, he is an admirer of Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair

Turnout is traditionally high for general elections in Denmark -- 86 percent in 1998.

Denmark's voters will choose from 984 candidates in 10 parties for four-year parliamentary terms in the 179-seat Folketing, or parliament.