Introduction
The predecessor of the current Skive municipality was formed in 1970 and existed until 2006. It emerged as a merger of Skive Købstadskommune and a number of small parish municipalities in the surrounding area. The reason for this merger was the rapid development of the welfare society during the 1960s. This meant a greater need for a new uniform municipal administration, so that both urban and rural municipalities could offer citizens the same level of service.
The 1970 election was the first for the new merged municipality, while the 2001 election was the last. In 2005, a new municipal merger was underway, so the 2005 election aimed to elect the merger committee, which from 2007 became the first city council of the current municipality.
The following is a review of the municipal elections and the political game from 1970 to 2001 and thus all the elections that concerned the old Skive Municipality before the creation of the current municipality.
Municipal elections 1970
The first municipal election after the municipal merger was held on March 3, 1970. It was also the first municipal election where the Social Democrats ran without Woldhardt Madsen as a mayoral candidate. Woldhardt Madsen resigned as mayor in 1967 and left the post to his party colleague Peter Kjærgaard, who thus also managed to become the last mayor of Skive Købstadskommune before the merger in 1970.
The election was characterized by the fact that SF had split in two, with a list led by Tage Sand Kirk called “Socialistisk Arbejderliste” running against SF. This meant that voters voted for the four “old” parties and SF lost their one seat on the city council due to the split. In addition, there was interest in whether people in the locality would be “loyal” to their former parish council chairmen and whether this could affect the election result. The big winner of the election was the Social Democrats and Mayor Peter Kjærgaard. He set a new personal record for the number of personal votes with 1,537 votes. This brought ten Social Democrats into the new city council.
Municipal elections 1974
The municipal elections in 1974 were a disaster for the Social Democrats with a loss of almost a quarter of the votes. Only the 1997 election would later prove to be worse for the Social Democrats. Various trade unions and labor organizations were dissatisfied that the Social Democrats had moved away from the old Social Democratic values, and so a new list was set up – the “Workers’ Common Organization” – which together with SF entered the city council. However, Mayor Peter Kjærgaard did not want to sit on these mandates and instead made an electoral alliance with Venstre and Konservative.
The 1978 municipal election
The rift that occurred between the Social Democratic Party and the Workers’ Common Organization was healed during 1976. On the far left, the Communists were re-elected, as the Joint Organization and Free Socialists’ lists were no longer nominated. The Communists then entered into an electoral alliance with SF. On the right, the Progress Party stood for the first time after establishing a local branch in Skive in 1975. The 1978 election was characterized by a major defeat for Radikale Venstre, which lost two seats. The Christian People’s Party also lost. The victors on the conservative side were the Progress Party, which elected farmer Svend Åge Fauerholdt, and the Conservatives, who regained one seat and had Major Søren E. Andersen elected (he later became mayor 1998-2001). In addition, the Social Democrats gained nine seats, although SF and DKP also gained two seats, which the Social Democrats did not like. Electoral alliances were made with Radikale Venstre and Konservative.
In addition, the period after the 1978 election was characterized by the exploration of who would take over as mayor after Mayor Peter Kjærgaard, who turned 70 in July 1978, before the municipal elections in November 1978. During this period, there were several contested elections. First, a showdown between the former chairman of the Social Democratic Association – teacher Erik Madsen and lecturer Helge Stavnsbjerg – the latter won, but resigned again in 1980. This was followed by a new election battle in the Social Democrats between Erik Madsen and school inspector Knud Olsen, which the latter won.
But also in the Conservative People’s Party, there was a showdown between the “old” led by director Erik Paaske and the “new” led by Major Søren E. Andersen. The dispute revolved around whether an independent planning committee should be established so that, according to S.E. Andersen, more long-term economic considerations could be made. In the end, S.E. Andersen was nominated as the leading candidate in the 1981 election and Viggo Paaske resigned from the Conservatives and became a “bourgeois independent”. In 1981, he ran on a cross-party citizens’ list.
Municipal elections 1981
This election was special in that the incumbent mayor (Peter Kjærgaard) did not stand for re-election. Instead, the Social Democrats’ leading candidate, school inspector Knud Olsen, set a new record in the number of personal votes in this election. This helped the Social Democrats to retain their nine seats. In addition, SF increased its vote by 50%, which still only gave it two seats. The split in the Conservative People’s Party was not significant as the party gained 25% and made S.E. Andersen deputy mayor. Otherwise, the distribution of seats remained the same as in the 1978 election, although the Radical Liberal Party, the Liberal Party and the Progress Party suffered small setbacks.
Municipal elections 1985
The 1985 election was characterized by the number of parties shrinking slightly – from nine to seven – as Kristeligt Folkeparti and Viggo Paaske’s list were not re-elected. The election was characterized by Social Democratic progress, where the party won a tenth mandate. SF also made progress and the “Reds” were able to muster a majority of 56.5%. Such a majority had not been seen since 1946. However, the Conservatives also made gains and won a fourth seat, which was probably due to the fact that the Conservatives had been a government party under the leadership of Poul Schlüter since 1982. The losers in the election were Radikale Venstre, which for the first time received less than 10% of the votes cast in a city council election in Skive. However, the party retained Gunnar Jensen’s position as chairman of the technical and environmental committee. The other big loser was the Progress Party, which was also in crisis nationally due to internal divisions and an imprisoned party founder.
Municipal elections 1989
In this municipal election, the incumbent mayor – Knud Olsen – also chose not to stand for re-election, which opened up for a run-off election between kindergarten class leader Jonna Stavnsbjerg and associate professor John Bech Thomsen, where the latter immediately received the most votes. Due to uncertainties about the voting rules and a subsequent longer break in the meeting, a new nomination meeting was held, now with three candidates, the first two and Erik Madsen. It ended with a victory for Jonna Stavnsbjerg. The election itself also ended in victory for the Social Democrats and Jonna Stavnsbjerg with 45% of the votes cast. The Progress Party was also successful as Svend Aage Fauerholdt regained his mandate, while SF and Radical Left were the big losers. For SF, it meant a lost mandate, so they were now down to a single mandate. The Social Democrats could now continue the tradition of sharing various committee posts with the bourgeois parties.
Municipal elections 1993
This election was characterized by the fact that a majority in Viborg County Council had decided to move two departments of Skive Hospital to Viborg Hospital (maternity ward and cardiothoracic), which led to a huge wave of protests throughout the Skive region. And this hit the Social Democrats hard, losing half the votes from the last election and two seats. Some of these lost votes went to SF, which again now had two seats on the city council. 1993 also saw a shift in the conservative wing. The Conservatives lost their status as the largest conservative party in Skive municipality in favor of Venstre. The Liberal Party was also on the rise nationally, while the Conservatives were in decline due to the Tamil affair and Schlüter’s resignation as Prime Minister.
Although the Social Democrats had lost their majority in the 1993 election, they were able to keep Jonna Stavnsbjerg as mayor due to support from SF. SF got its first committee post with Gert Ringgaard, who became chairman of the planning and building committee. Peder Christian Kirkegaard became the new deputy mayor. He was later elected mayor in 2013.
Municipal elections 1997
This election was characterized by the fact that several issues had arisen that burdened the Social Democratic Party. The port of Skive ran into financial problems, Skive Sports College had to close and the scheduled flight from Skive Airport at Vinkel was a complete failure. This meant that the right-wing party, led by Svend Aage Fauerholdt (now representing the Danish People’s Party), demanded budget cuts, which the Social Democrats, SF and Radical Left did not want. The election ended with the majority parties (Social Democrats, SF and the Social Liberal Party) failing to agree, paving the way for the bourgeois parties, now including the Center Democrats (who were standing for the first time since 1978), to form an election alliance. This gave Major Søren E. Andersen from the Conservatives the post of mayor – the first conservative mayor in Skive since 1927. However, Søren E. Andersen chose not to run again well before the 2001 election.
Municipal elections 2001
In this election, voters in Skive municipality could choose between five mayoral candidates. The Social Democrats fielded Per B. Jeppesen (city council member since 1982). The Liberal Party fielded Peder Christian Kirkegaard, the Social Liberal Party fielded school inspector Martin Bach-Vilhelmsen. SF fielded councillor Leif Hermann and the Conservatives fielded accountant Frits Malling Sørensen.
This municipal election was special in several ways. It was the first time that municipal, county council and parliamentary elections were held on the same date. In addition, Skive saw electoral alliances based on red and blue blocs, as we know from national politics. The last point that made this election particularly special was that the 2001 election was the last election in which the city council would sit for the entire term in this size of municipality before the next merger,
The election itself ended with a victory for the Soc.dem. – Rad. V. -SF with 52.4% of the votes against 47.6 for the conservative alliance (VKO) and with a mandate distribution of 11-10 in S-R-SF’s favor. This gave Per B. Jeppesen the post as mayor of Skive, but Soc.dem. had to give heavy committee posts to Radikale Venstre and SF. Venstre also got the deputy mayor position.
See also
Sources
History of Skive Municipality from 1940-2003, volume III, p. 406-408, Skive Museums Forlag, p, 406-418