NUUK (Reuters) -Greenland will hold a general election on March 11, its prime minister said on Tuesday, amid renewed interest from U.S. President Donald Trump in the Arctic territory.
The upcoming election campaign is expected to revolve around Greenland’s independence aspirations, the development of the island’s fragile economy and relations with Denmark and the United States.
“We are in the midst of a serious time. A time that we have never experienced in our country. This is not the time for internal division,” Prime Minister Mute Egede said in a social media post that did not mention Trump.
Greenland’s parliament later unanimously approved his proposal for the March 11 election.
Trump in December renewed his wish to control the strategically important island and did not rule out using military or economic power to achieve this.
The semi-autonomous territory of Denmark has said it is open for business but does not wish to be part of the United States.
Greenland was due to hold parliamentary elections before April 6.
Denmark has ruled the island for centuries. Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953 and has since gained broad autonomy, including the right to declare independence, although Copenhagen remains responsible for Greenland’s security and foreign policy.
A majority of Greenlanders would vote for independence if such a referendum were held now, a recent survey by pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq, showed.
Some 28% would vote against independence.
The island holds vast untapped mineral resources but its economy depends on fishing and annual grants from Denmark.
The poll also showed that 45% do not want independence if the standard of living is negatively affected, highlighting that the path towards independence remains unclear.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Louise Rasmussen in Copenhagen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Nuuk, editing by Terje Solsvik and Rod Nickel)
