Denmark gets its first vegan party

The first vegan party in Denmark has arrived and wants to put the vegan ideology on the Danish political agenda. Currently they are putting all their effort in getting enough public support to get into the Danish parliament.

The party's key issues are animal rights, environment and public health - the party's attitudes are all rooted in veganism. This entails a major showdown with the voluminous Danish meat and fur production breeding and killing more than 33 million pigs, 125 million broilers and 17 million minks every year.

The party's vegan founders are 40-year-old Michael Monberg and 27-year-old Henrik Vindfeldt.

"We started the party because we didn’t see enough political attention being directed towards the horrible conditions these animals go through to become nothing less than pizza topping nor the major impacts it has on the environment and on public health. It is known that animal agriculture has a large negative impact on the environment and (that) consuming animal products leads to many lifestyle deceases. We want to inform the politicians and the public about the benefits of veganism for the environment, public health and ethics and (to) introduce ethical legislation that complements this”, says Henrik Vindfeldt, co-founder of Veganerpartiet.

The party became widely known last October during what has later become known as 'bacon gate'; an episode where Henrik Vindfeldt wanted to discuss the miserable conditions for animals in Danish agriculture with Denmark’s Minister of Environment and Food during the opening day of the Danish Parliament. The minister replied, “I simply can't express with words how much I love bacon”. It created a shitstorm of dimensions towards the Danish Minister, and veganism and the vegan party was suddenly on everyone’s lips.

The Danish election will be held within three months and the Vegan Party hopes to be elected to put the animals on the political agenda in Denmark as well as in foreign policy.

Facts about veganism in Denmark

• It is estimated that 35,000 of Denmark’s 5,8 million citizens live entirely vegan.
• 140,000 (2.4 %) of the Danes live entirely vegetarian, while 680,000 (12 %) predominantly eat vegetarian.
• 31 % highlight animal ethics, 16 % sustainability and 11 % health as being the primary reason for their adaptation of a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.
• Denmark is one of the most meat consuming countries in the world. A Dane consumes in average 72 kg of meat every year.