With Denmark's general election taking place today, former PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen's centrist Moderates look set to emerge as the 'kingmakers' in most coalition-building scenarios. Opinion polls show that neither the leftist Red Bloc of parties backing PM Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats, nor the opposition right-wing Blue Bloc are on course to win an overall majority of seats. This could leave the Moderates - a new party not aligned to either long-standing alliance - with the ability to lend its weight to either side, or indeed seek to create a new gov't.

• The broad state of the electoral outcome will become clear throughout the night, but a lengthy period of coalition negotiations is almost certain to be required in the weeks and even months ahead.
• Should the Moderates emerge as kingmakers, Rasmussen could side with either bloc or - as has been mooted - seek to create a new centrist administration pulling in the least extreme parties from the Red and Blue blocs.
• There is speculation Rasmussen could seek the PM's position, despite leading a party likely to hold fewer seats than the Social Democrats or the liberal conservative Venstre.

Chart 1. Danish General Election Opinion Polling by Bloc, % and 6-Poll Moving Average

Source: Voxmeter, Megafon, YouGov, Gallup, Epinion, MNI