But in practice, the monarch's role is limited to signing laws passed by the legislature; this must be done within 30 days of adoption.

On a vote of no confidence, the Folketing may force a single minister or the entire government to resign.

[6] Members are democratically elected by proportional representation: 135 directly in constituencies using the D'Hondt method, alongside 40 leveling seats.

The Folketing was elected by common vote among men and consisted mainly of independent farmers, traders, and merchants as well as the educated classes.

From 1866 to 1915 the right to vote for the Landsting was restricted to the wealthiest, and some of its members were appointed by the king; so it predominantly represented the landed gentry and other conservatives.

All Danish citizens 18 years or older may vote in legislative elections, which are conducted by secret ballot.

The Danish political system is characterised by a fusion of powers, with the government being drawn from the ranks of the Folketing.

Denmark is governed by a cabinet and a prime minister who do not have a majority in the Folketing against them (negative parliamentarism).

This coalition government worked with regular parliamentary support from the national conservative Danish People's Party and often gained the necessary 90th seat for majority in the Folketing through negotiations with either the sole MP from the Christian Democrats, Ørum-Jørgensen[13] or another MP outside parties, Christmas Møller, both elected in 2007 as conservative MPs and having defected since then.

[15] On 13 January 2011 the continuing turmoil in the Conservative group in the Folketing caused Lene Espersen to resign as political leader of the party and focus on her role as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[16] A leadership election between Brian Mikkelsen, the Minister of Economic and Business Affairs and Lars Barfoed, the Justice Minister, was widely expected,[17] but on 14 January the Conservative group in the Folketing unanimously elected Barfoed as their new political leader.

[18] The Social Democrats under the leadership of Helle Thorning-Schmidt have enjoyed continuing majorities in opinion polls since late 2009 and hope to form a centre-left government coalition consisting of the Socialist People's Party and the Social Liberal Party with parliamentary support from the small Red-Green Alliance.

Following the 2015 general election, Thorning-Schmidt was replaced as prime minister by her predecessor Lars Løkke Rasmussen.