The votes slowly came in on Tuesday evening, as the polling stations closed around Greenland, and a picture slowly began to take shape.
A safe seat for Naleraq and a fight for the second mandate between two members of Naalakkersuisut from IA and Demokraatit.
And then there was another name that kept coming up from place to place. Ellen Schärfe from Atassut.
She ended up with 1553 personal votes. Fourth most out of the 27 candidates. Not enough for a parliamentary seat, but enough for a significant increase for Atassut, which went from 3.7 percent in 2022 to 10.7 percent this year.
- I am very humbled and truly grateful for the support I have received from everywhere. It also confirms my desire to get more and more involved in politics, and that there is a need for someone like me to secure Atassut's position in the political arena, she says the next day.
Ellen Schärfe believes that the increase for Atassut – which despite a good election still became the smallest party – is an expression of the fact that citizens have begun to understand where Atassut actually stands in relation to the Commonwealth and domestic politics.
Doesn't want to be a politician for a living
It's not the first time that Ellen Schärfe has been on the candidate list – although it's been a while. In 1998, she was elected as the last member of parliament for Atassut.
But how is it that voters still remember her after so many years away from politics?
- I believe this is precisely because I am able to talk to people, not just to people, and that I am down to earth and know how things really are outside the political arena.
- I have promised myself and the voters that I will not end up as a politician for a living and just try to stay in the hot seat, whereas it has been important for me to also get out of politics to be an ordinary citizen and know what's really going on in society, she says.
But despite good support from the voters, neither Ellen Schärfe nor Atassut won a seat in the parliament. But that is not the last thing the voters have seen of her.
- Now I am back in politics, and there should be no doubt that on the day that elections are called for Inatsisartut, my name will also appear on the candidate list, she says.
The citizens must be at the center
However, Ellen Schärfe does not want to take all the credit for Atassut's election result. She emphasizes the party's policy, which has focused on an equal realm, but also an equal society in Greenland.
Among other things, when it comes to putting citizens at the center. She experiences that much legislation has been based on an original law in Denmark, which has then been applied in Greenland. And that needs to be addressed.
- There is a need for us to begin to take into account the Greenlandic traditions, the Greenlandic culture and language, and some of the values we have here in Greenland as a society. Things should not be Greenlandized as such, but we must begin to incorporate our own identity into the legislation, by making it simpler and more relevant, says Ellen Schärfe.
But it also requires that citizens begin to get involved, she says. On Tuesday, 52 percent of those eligible to vote went out to cast a vote, and although it is a high turnout for a parliamentary election, it is still too low, believes the politician Atassut.
- I think it's worrying to see that voter turnout is so low in many places. So I would also like to encourage people to start getting involved.
- What good is it to sit back and have a bad feeling about the election results if you haven't cast your vote?
