[14] The Alternative was launched on 27 November 2013 by Uffe Elbæk and Josephine Fock, at a press conference at Christiansborg, the seat of the Folketing, the Danish parliament.

[17] The Alternative supported Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the incumbent prime minister from the Social Democrats, but considered itself both left- and right-wing.

[19] The party's name was approved by the Danish Electoral Commission under the Ministry of Economy and the Interior, taking effect on 18 December 2013.

[20] At the beginning of 2015 the party worked on gathering the 20,260 signatures required to run for Parliament, which it succeeded in doing on 23 February 2015.

[22] The party obtained ballot access for the 2015 general election with the letter Å on the electoral lists on 13 March 2015.

[24] In a famous interview on election night, Elbæk tried to speak, but instead ended up saying "Jamenahrmendedevadvadee … man, this is crazy!

"[16][25] The party supported the re-election of Social Democrat leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt as Prime Minister.

[27] The party won a reduced five seats and went into opposition after Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen became prime minister.

[34] Fock said she did not recognize the descriptions of her, and categorically denied the accusations of shaking people, but said she was not "the best version of herself" in that period.

[53] On 7 February 2021, the party announced that Mayor of Culture and Leisure in Copenhagen Franciska Rosenkilde as their new leader.

[56] Elbæk later called for the Independent Greens and Alternative to merge,[57] and eventually rejoined the old party,[58][59] reducing the number of sitting FG MPs to two.