Greenlanders queue to vote in parliamentary elections with Trump and independence on their minds

(11 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nuuk, Greenland – 11 March 2025
1. Wide of voters queuing in front of voting centre
2. Voters waving flags
3. Various of voters eating cakes
4. Close of cakes
5. Voters waving flags
6. Wide of voters
7. Candidates’ pictures being stapled onto poster
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sheila Geisler Kristiansen, 35, voter:
"I’ve got to vote for those who back us up in Greenland as Inuit and we don’t want to be Americans. Like, I don’t want to be American nor Danish. I’m Inuit."
9. Wide of media
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Sheila Geisler Kristiansen, 35, voter:
"Like, I had never experienced where we’ve got to wait for so long, because I’ve got to go in and just cross it and go out. But this is the first time I ever waited so long."
11. Various of people queuing
12. Various of Greenland Prime Minister, Mute Bourup Egede, speaking to people
13. Wide of people queuing outside voting centre
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Hans Henrik Grabe, 48, voter:
"I mean, I think it’s good that Greenland is getting some attention, but I don’t think that the attention from Trump is particularly positive. I think that generally he’s creating a lot of instability in the world. But I also think that it’s good because, you know, it makes the European community think about what to do with Greenland and how to collaborate with Greenland."
15. Various of man standing amongst political posters and banners
STORYLINE:
People in Greenland queued up in long lines to cast their ballots on Tuesday as the strategic Arctic island held early parliamentary elections.

The self-governing region of Denmark is home to 56,000 people, most from Indigenous Inuit backgrounds, and occupies a crucial North Atlantic location.

It also holds rare earth minerals key to driving the global economy.

While the island has been on a path toward independence since at least 2009, a break from Denmark isn’t on the ballot — even though it’s on everyone’s mind.

Voters will instead elect 31 lawmakers who will shape the island’s future at a defining moment in history.

Unofficial election results should be available soon after polls close at 2200 GMT Tuesday, but they won’t be certified for weeks as ballot papers make their way to the capital from remote settlements by boat, plane and helicopter.

The mood was festive Tuesday at the sole polling station in Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk, as election workers opened the doors to cheers at 1100 GMT.

Political parties set up booths outside the polling station, offering voters homemade cakes and coffee.

Opinion polls show most Greenlanders favour independence.

Most say they don’t dislike Americans, pointing to the good relations they have with the local Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Force Base, where U.S. military personnel have been stationed since 1951.

For 35-year-old voter Sheila Geisler Kristiansen, the election has come at a crucial time.

"I’ve got to vote for those who back us up in Greenland as Inuit and we don’t want to be Americans.. I’m Inuit," said Kristiansen.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s attention on Greenland has transformed the deeply local process of democracy.

Suddenly, the presence of journalists from as far away as Japan and Croatia are reminders that these are far from normal times.

"I mean, I think it’s good that Greenland is getting some attention, but I don’t think that the attention from Trump is particularly positive," said 48-year-old voter Hans Henrik Grabe.

AP video shot by Kwiyeon Ha

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