1979 Greenlandic general election

← 1975

4 April 1979 (1979-04-04)

1983 →

All 21 seats in the Inatsisartut
11 seats needed for a majority

Turnout

69.58%

Party		Leader	Vote %	Seats	+/–
	Siumut	Jonathan Motzfeldt	46.12%	13	New
	Atassut	Lars Chemnitz	41.69%	8	New

This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Governor before	Prime Minister
Hans Lassen Independent	Jonathan Motzfeldt Siumut

Politics of Greenland


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v t e

General elections were held in Greenland on 4 April 1979, the first election to the new Parliament after the introduction of home rule. The result was a victory for the separatist and left wing Siumut, which won 13 of the 21 seats in the Parliament, over the unionist and moderate Atassut. The difference in seats won became relatively large because of the use of first past the post in five constituencies in northern and eastern Greenland, which were all won by Siumut, while the two parties split the 16 seats in the multi member constituencies in Western Greenland evenly. As a result of the election Jonathan Motzfeldt from Siumut became the first head of government in Greenland.

Results



Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Siumut	8,505	46.12	13
	Atassut	7,688	41.69	8
	Labour Party	1,041	5.64	0
	Inuit Ataqatigiit	813	4.41	0
	Independents	396	2.15	0
Total		18,443	100.00	21

Valid votes		18,443	92.44
Invalid/blank votes		1,508	7.56
Total votes		19,951	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		28,672	69.58
Source: Election Passport, Parties & Elections

References

Tom Lansford (2014) Political Handbook of the World 2014, CQ Press, p393
Greenland Archived 2013-07-22 at the Wayback Machine Parties and Elections

v t e Elections and referendums in Greenland
Parliamentary elections	1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1984 1987 1991 1995 1999 2002 2005 2009 2013 2014 2018 2021 2025
European elections	1979 1984
Local elections	1979 1983 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2008 2013 2017 2021
Referendums	1978 1979 1982 2008
See also: Elections and referendums in Denmark

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