'Bluff number', 'desperate', 'angry'. Red candidates are fiercely competing with each other to win Copenhagen.

The race to become Copenhagen's new mayor has been marked by harsh rhetoric.

And the rhetoric, which is not always pleasant, is particularly noticeable in this municipal election campaign, according to Carsten Mai, who is a political commentator, former press secretary for Copenhagen's mayor, and who today owns a lobby bureau.

- It has been a brutal election campaign in Copenhagen with many personal attacks. Not least between the Red-Green Alliance and the Social Democrats.

- It's because there's so much at stake in this election in Copenhagen that the attacks become harder and harder, says Carsten Mai.

He highlights a few examples.

- When one starts to accuse each other of bluff and of being on the wrong side of history and bringing up people's past, it's more about people and power and less about presenting political proposals to Copenhageners, says Carsten Mai.

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Harsh attacks

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Rikke Gjøl Mansø, who is a municipal election correspondent and political analyst for DR, assesses that the competition for Copenhagen in this campaign is "unbelievably brutal."

- There are some really harsh attacks being made.

For example, when Line Barfod earlier (https://www.tv2kosmopol.dk/metropolen/jeg-peger-kun-pa-mig-selv-3f1e2 ) this week in front of TV 2 Kosmopol said that it was "an expression of arrogance" that Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil only wants to point to herself as mayor and refuses to be part of making Line Barfod mayor of Copenhagen.

- When the campaign is so brutal, it's because everything is at stake. Especially for the Social Democrats, who fear losing the mayor's post in Copenhagen, assesses Rikke Gjøl Mansø.

The Social Democrats have been at the head of the table in Copenhagen's City Council for more than 100 years, but the party has lost at every municipal election in the last 20 years.

- It would be a historic defeat, and therefore they are setting all sails, she says.

Here are some of the former Social Democratic mayors of Copenhagen:

On the streets of Copenhagen, the campaign has also made an impression on people.

- When there is an election campaign, it's with trying to kick each other. They are aggressive, I think, and one doesn't get a real impression of what they really stand for and mean, says Lorin Rømer, who lives in Copenhagen.

She doesn't care about the harsh tone.

- I will then consider an extra time, if it is some people I want to vote for. I think, people's way of treating their fellow human beings is very important, she says.

> I don't think it's in order that they keep swearing at each other

> instead of coming with their political messages

> Kirsten Rasmussen, resident, Copenhagen

Kirsten Rasmussen, who also lives in Copenhagen, thinks that it goes beyond the election campaign when politicians attack each other.

- I don't think it's in order that they keep swearing at each other instead of coming with their political messages, she says,

At the Red-Green Alliance, Line Barfod acknowledges that she and the other politicians in Copenhagen's City Council have a responsibility for the harsh tone.

Line Barfod, mayoral candidate for the Red-Green Alliance and current technical and environmental mayor. (Photo: © Liselotte Sabroe, Ritzau Scanpix)

- We all have a responsibility for the election campaign that is. But for me, it's absolutely crucial that we discuss what direction Copenhagen should take, she says.

But is it necessary to come with the harsh attacks against the opponent instead of just focusing on one's own campaign?

- I focus very much on what we want politically, says Line Barfod.

- There have been personal attacks. There's no doubt about that, and that's not nice. I would rather have a campaign where we talk to each other, and we do that generally as well. Because we have to cooperate, she says.

At the Socialist People's Party, Sisse Marie Welling believes that the responsibility for the harsh tone lies mainly with the Social Democrats.

- I'm really annoyed that the Social Democrats have dropped out of the red bloc and have said that if they can't point to them, they will not cooperate with the rest of the red bloc in Copenhagen.

- It's up to them to decide how they conduct their election campaign. We have a focus on politics and not on who should have which posts.

Sisse Marie Welling, mayoral candidate for the Socialist People's Party and current health and care mayor, Copenhagen's City Council. (Photo: © Liselotte Sabroe, Ritzau Scanpix)

But on Instagram, you accuse the S of conducting scare campaigns, and you and your party leader, Pia Olsen Dyhr, stand in a Facebook video and say that the S uses bullying methods?

- It's a bit of a funny comment about what the Social Democrats have otherwise delivered in terms of attacks on both the Red-Green Alliance and the Socialist People's Party in the last few days, she says.

> I think it's important to distinguish between attacks that target politics,

> and attacks that target people directly

> Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, mayoral candidate (S),

> City Council, Copenhagen

But Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil denies that she and the Social Democrats have conducted an election campaign full of personal attacks.

- I think it's important to distinguish between attacks that target politics,

But when you say that there is one of the other candidates who is unsuitable to lead, does that go on their person?

- No, it goes on their qualifications. I don't go into their appearance or how they raise their children, or what it could be that belongs to a clear private sphere.

- I take a position on their qualifications in relation to the position they are reaching for, says Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil.

So when you call the housing policies of the Red-Green Alliance and the Socialist People's Party a bluff, is that within the bounds?

- Yes, I definitely see it that way.

We have spoken to several Copenhageners who experience you as hard on each other and going after each other as politicians. They are tired of it. Can you understand them?

- I can certainly understand them. But I think there is a big difference between being clear and sharp, and going into each other's private sphere.

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