Greenlanders to vote in historic election

Greenlanders are heading to the polls on Tuesday.

Home to about 60,000 mostly Inuit-descended Greenlanders, the world’s largest island is a semi-autonomous region of Denmark. US President Donald Trump has recently amped up rhetoric about taking over Greenland, even telling Congress he would “get” the Arctic territory “one way or the other.”

Who’s in the race? The ruling faction in Greenland’s single-chamber Inatsisartut is the Inuit Ataqatigiit, a left-wing party that supports independence but opposes mining projects as a means of becoming less economically reliant on Denmark.

The IA is in a coalition with the center-left Siumut, which historically opposed independence. In a shift last month, the leader of Siumut – seen as more open to mining – pledged to hold an independence referendum.

The largest opposition party is the centrist pro-independence Naleraq.

While there’s been scant public polling showing where each party stands, 56% of Greenlanders backed independence in a January survey, while 85% rejected the idea of joining the US.

Does that mean independence? Not automatically, but it’s trending that way.Prime Minister Múte B. Egede has also stepped up calls to break away from Denmark in recent months. A 2009 Danish law gives Greenland the right to unilaterally call an independence referendum.

What result would be good for Trump? No party is interested in joining the US, but Naleraq is more vocally open to closer ties with Washington.