Mette Frederiksen launches a massive political campaign—now the government is fighting itself, and Christiansborg is buzzing with tension.

As you walk through the long corridors of Christiansborg, there’s one question that’s currently buzzing among politicians, advisors, journalists—yes, even the cafeteria staff:

Do you think we’re about to go to an election?

It’s almost a political law of nature that this question makes the castle tremble as soon as we enter an election year like this one.

And of course, the Social Democrats’ grand promise of a class cap of 14 students in the smallest classes fuels the speculation.

So, will there be a spring election? Only the prime minister and her closest confidants know.

But with this eye-catching—and truly expensive—promise, she’s lit the fuse on one of her biggest election rockets. The Social Democrats have been quick to compare it with the central campaign pledges of the past two elections: the Arne pension and the wage hike.

Both were just as precisely vague as the class cap when first announced. Yet, both were delivered after the Social Democrats won the elections, which they proudly claim credit for.

That’s why Social Democrats have been digging up childhood photos of themselves from archives to launch a coordinated campaign on social media. The election battle is underway—spring election or not.

* Education Minister Mattias Tesfaye (S) was present at the announcement of the proposal today—here he is many years earlier.

* Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen (S) also shared a childhood photo of himself on Facebook alongside the news of the Social Democrats’ major election pledge on class caps of 14 in the smallest classes.

* Political Spokesperson Christian Rabjerg Madsen (S)—here with a school bag in 1992, when he started kindergarten.

* Defense Spokesperson Simon Kollerup (S) has also shared a photo from what looks like his first day of school back in the '90s. The Social Democrats’ official Facebook account responded with the comment: "Fantastic picture!"

1 / 4 Education Minister Mattias Tesfaye (S) was present at the announcement of the proposal today—here he is many years earlier.

1 / 4 Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen (S) also shared a childhood photo of himself on Facebook alongside the news of the Social Democrats’ major election pledge on class caps of 14 in the smallest classes.

2 / 4 Political Spokesperson Christian Rabjerg Madsen (S)—here with a school bag in 1992, when he started kindergarten.

3 / 4 Defense Spokesperson Simon Kollerup (S) has also shared a photo from what looks like his first day of school back in the '90s. The Social Democrats’ official Facebook account responded with the comment: "Fantastic picture!"

4 / 4

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Reminiscences of Copenhagen’s childcare giants

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The new election pledge on "Lilleskolen" (small schools), which Mette Frederiksen herself launched in *Politiken*, also brings to mind another notable Social Democrat proposal: namely Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil’s plan for free daycare institutions during the Copenhagen municipal election campaign last autumn. Another eye-catching pledge aimed at struggling families with children.

That comparison, the Social Democrats are less eager to make. But there are similarities.

Just as the daycare proposal was criticized for being unrealistic election bait, party after party at Christiansborg now dismisses the class cap pledge as a bit too cleverly timed for the campaign. How exactly can thousands of teachers be found and new classrooms built for the many additional small classes?

And then there’s the matter of funding—or rather, the lack of it. Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil was criticized for not specifying where the money would come from. Mette Frederiksen’s class cap is estimated to cost five billion kroner annually, plus six billion kroner in one-time expenses for building the many new classrooms.

But the Social Democrats will only lift the veil on financing "at a later stage"—when the election (perhaps officially) is announced.

If another party had presented such a sweeping and outrageously expensive election pledge without any indication of how it would be funded, the Social Democrats would have been first in line to slam it down as irresponsible.

Of course, the blue opposition parties now take on that role. While the red opposition parties just as predictably point out that the Social Democrats will have to return in a red coalition if they want to deliver on the pledge after the election.

And inside the government? The allies in the Liberal Party and the Conservatives were warned about the proposal, but not days in advance. The closer the election gets, the less the three governing parties feel they owe each other.

The reception from the other two governing parties has also been quite cool. Few politicians would campaign on a firm "no" to improving the quality of public schools. But the internal election battle is in full swing. As Liberal Party deputy leader Stephanie Lose bluntly noted about the Liberal Party’s upcoming school proposal: "It will be presented with financing that’s immediately clear."

There was also a thinly veiled jab from the Conservatives’ deputy leader, Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt, who has little faith in "yet another school reform dreamed up in the Social Democrats’ campaign office," referring to the teacher lockout and Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s discredited public school reform.

It’s all well and good for the Social Democrats, who in the election campaign also need to distance themselves from their governing allies—who may or may not remain enemies after the election.

Mette Frederiksen herself listed three areas where the government "hasn’t done enough" in her New Year’s speech. With today’s school proposal, she can now claim that the Social Democrats have addressed at least two of them.

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The New Year’s speech three-step rocket

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The speculation about an election is further fueled by the fact that Mette Frederiksen can now tick off two of the three goals she set for Danes in her possibly final New Year’s speech as prime minister.

- We haven’t done enough regarding the high food prices, said Mette Frederiksen. The food voucher came last week.

- We haven’t done enough for the children who struggle, said Mette Frederiksen. Now the class cap proposal has arrived.

- We haven’t done enough regarding rising inequality, said Mette Frederiksen.

Ten days after her New Year’s speech, she added more words to one of Denmark’s biggest inequalities: the housing market. Where those who bought the right property at the right time can sit back and watch the millions roll in. A "huge problem," Mette Frederiksen emphasized at the Radicals’ New Year’s gathering in Nyborg.

Is a new property tax in the works for the Social Democrats? Mette Frederiksen assured that she wouldn’t "firebomb" homeowners. That would also be foolish, especially in an election year. But she insisted that something must be done.

The message was somewhat drowned out by the political storm, as the Danish Realm was in the midst of Trump’s threats against Greenland. A crisis that also delayed several of the Social Democrats’ and the government’s plans.

But even though the all-encompassing crisis has pushed back some of the Social Democrats’ and the government’s plans in the first month of the year, it has also given Mette Frederiksen an unexpected massive boost in the polls.

And that kind of momentum does play a role in election campaigns.

On Christiansborg’s corridors, election preparations are in full swing. And the parties are sleeping with their boots on, well aware that it might be sandal weather before the campaign posters go up.

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