A cyclist still in his helmet and riding gear votes in Naerum, Denmark. Photograph: John McConnico/AP
A nation divided over the Iraq invasion and the government's ambition to join the single European currency. A political opposition haplessly struggling because of its leader's inability to make an impact on public opinion. Sounds familiar?
Danish voters may be separated over key foreign policy issues, but since the prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, announced today's general election - on the back of increasingly favourable polls for his liberal-conservative government - Denmark has witnessed an election build-up that has been largely dominated by a domestic agenda.
Despite attempts by the media to throw more controversial issues such as Iraq into the mix, much of the debate has focused on public services with politicians promising small perks rather than debating the greater issues. Even a highly contested 5p fee on credit card transactions seems to have caused more of a stir than the country's recent 'Abu Ghraib' moment.
Mr Fogh Rasmussen has also reiterated his strict line on immigration policy. With the support of the anti-immigrant Danish Folk's party, the government has implemented tougher measures resulting in an 80% drop in asylum seekers since 2001. The leader of the Danish Folk's party, Pia Kjaersgaard, recently said she wanted new laws to strip naturalised Danes of their citizenship and return them to their country of origin if found guilty of a criminal offence.
The left-leaning newspaper Politiken today warns against the increasing political impact of the controversial party and encourages readers to cast their votes in order to isolate the Danish Folk's paty from influence. "The government has chosen to seek the support of the Danish Folk's party on all major issues, and the party has been given a key role in many areas," an editorial in the paper says. "This is the reason why Denmark has passed legislation which is in obvious breach of the European human rights conventions."
"It's decisive for the fundamental seriousness, decency and order ... that the centre of the political spectrum has a good election."
But as Politiken also points out, the problem for the opposition has been its ineffectiveness in challenging the government's agenda on immigration, but also on issues such as healthcare and education. The general consensus is that whoever is elected prime minister today, a healthy economy and welfare state will persevere.
Lars Bille, a political science professor at the University of Copenhagen, underlines this point: "There has been nothing to fight over. The election was called because the government was faring well in the polls, not because there was a
dispute."
The media thinktank Monday Morning describes the election debate as suffering from a "total lack of intensity, political vision and obvious differences of opinion".
"Whatever the results show, when the votes have been counted, the last three weeks will leave the impression of an election debate that was lost by politicians, by the media and the electorate. The politicians lost the bigger themes and the important progressive discussion on the floor and at no point did they have the courage to pick them up."
Although there has been a late surge of support for the opposition Social Democrats, all indicators point to the reelection of a prime minister who the Times yesterday hailed for his "no-nonsense practicality".
"For Europe, a Rasmussen victory would be a vital sign that discipline, honesty and a willingness to shatter shibboleths are more appealing electorally than soggy, self-serving socialism. Something is right in the state of Denmark."
If the prophecy is fulfilled, Denmark will still be able to parade a man once famously described as "the most handsome prime minister in Europe".
