The Demokraatit Party has won the most votes in Kalaalit Nunaat's parliamentary election. The center-right, pro-business party won 29.9 percent of the total, outclassing the ruling Ataqatiglit Party, which garnered 21.1 percent of the vote.

The Inuit Ataqatiglit Party had partnered with the Siumut Party in 2021 and together gained 66.1 percent of the vote. This year, that combined total was just 36 percent.

The island, known for centuries as Greenland, is large but also largely uninhabited. It has 72 polling stations, and 40,500 people are eligible to vote. The island's total population is about 57,000.

Significantly, the Demokraatit Party favors a slow path to independence from Denmark. The party with the second-highest vote total was Naleraq, who favor a quick pivot to independence. Naleraq's total was 24.5 percent.

Demokraatit leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen, a former minister of industry and minerals, will now focus on forming a coalition to govern. Kalaalit Nunaat's government is a parliamentary one, and a majority is needed to form a government. is an autonomous territory of Denmark, and its head of state is still Denmark's monarch, King Frederik X.

The parliament, the Inatsisartut, has 31 seats. Since 2021, Ataqatiglit has held 12 seats and Siumut has had 10. Demokraatit has had three seats, and Naleraq has had four. The minor party Atassut has had the other two.

The current prime minister, Ataqatiglit's Mute Egede, announced the elections in January, amid intense interest from U.S. President Donald Trump in acquiring the islands. In between that announcement and the elections themselves, the government passed a law that banned foreign or anonymous donations in connection with the elections.

An islandwide poll in January found that 85 percent of respondents wanted independence from Denmark but true independence, not swapping one ruling authority for another.

Denmark has ruled Greenland off and on for centuries, beginning in 1261. The island moved from colony to province in 1953. It got its own bank in 1966 and joined the European Union (EU) in 1973, when Denmark did. The process that had changed Greenland from a colony to a province generated desire for home rule, and this was achieved in 1979, when the island gained its own parliament, the Inatsisartut. Three years later, Kalaalit Nunaat left the EU. In 1985, Kalaalit Nunaat had its own flag.