Greenland’s Head of State is the Danish Monarch, currently Margrethe II. The Queen’s government in Denmark appoints a Rigsombudsmand (High commissioner) representing the Danish government and monarchy.

Greenland has a 31 member elected parliament. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who is usually the leader of the majority party in Parliament.

It is notable that Greenland is not part of the European Union (having left the EU in 1985), despite Denmark itself being a member state.

Politics of Greenland takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic Danish dependency, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Greenland is a self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark since 1979.

Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Greenland (known as Landsting). The party system is dominated by the social democratic Forward, the separatist and socialist Inuit Community and the conservative liberal Feeling of Community. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Executive branch

The monarch of Denmark is also head of state of Greenland. She is represented by a High Commissioner, appointed by her. The Prime Minister is elected by Parliament and leads the Landsstyre.

Legislative branch

Greenland has a unicameral Parliament or Landsting (31 seats; members are elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to serve four-year terms). Two representatives were elected to the Danish Parliament or Folketing at the last Danish elections, Siumut 1, Inuit Ataqatigiit 1.

Judicial branch

High Court or Landsret.

Administrative divisions:

3 districts (landsdele); Avannaa (Danish: Nordgrønland), Tunu (Danish: Østgrønland), Kitaa (Danish: Vestgrønland)

Diplomatic representations

With Denmark having responsibility for Greenland’s international affairs, other countries do not have direct diplomatic representation in Greenland — their embassies or consulates in Denmark are responsible for their relations with Greenland and their citizens in Greenland.

Greenland is represented internationally by the embassies and consulates of Denmark, although Greenland does directly participate in some Nordic organisations which provide for membership for dependent territories.

International organization participation

Nordic Council, Nordic Investment Bank