The Frozen North: Main Thread

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Welcome to the Frozen North, an interactive timeline that will possibly just become boring since it's Greenland.

This starts in 1983, just a few years after the Home Rule referendum resoundingly passed. The 1983 general elections are just around the corner, and the main issue is Independence.

I don't know why I'm doing this, to be honest. Please give feedback.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

With a split parliament, the future is mostly uncertain

Atassut: 48.34%, 13 seats
Inuit Ataqatgiit: 35.03% 9 seats
Siumut: 16.11%, 4 seats
Other/Independent: 0.52%, 0 seats

          The election of 1983 would go down as a massive upset, as the seemingly popular Siumut fell all the way to third. Atassut fell short of their goal of winning outright, getting exactly half the seats with less than half the vote. Motzfeldt negotiated with the IA, and an agreement was made where IA would support Motzfeldt for PM, and he would give support to the IA in votes. Several days would pass without any clear indication of who would be the next prime minister. No one on either side would bulge. Eventually, one Siumut member defected, leading Lars Chemnitz to be the next Prime Minister.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

1983-1984: Atassut Minority Government

          After becoming Prime Minister, Lars Chemnitz realized very little would get done without compromise. He would negotiate with the left to push through a bill to open mining, with some regulations to appease Siumut, although the majority of the IA still voted against it. However, after that Chemnitz was unable to get much done, despite attempts at compromise on the EEC, the left stood completely opposed to a deal, with Motzfeldt stating that "Re-entering the Community would simply hurt our fishing industry and several good, hardworking people." Eventually, Chemnitz would call for a new election, with a resized Inatsisartut, something all parties agreed on to avoid exact ties. However, right before the election, a surprise would come to Chemnitz.


Sorry it isn't too long but it's Greenland and a tied parliament what do you expect

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Separatists triumph as they get a majority, but the far-right Union Party shocks the island with a third place performance

Inuit Ataqatgiit: 36.77%, 10 seats (+1)
Atassut: 36.68%, 10 seats (-3)
Union: 11.01%, 3 seats (N/A)
Siumut: 7.38%, 2 seats (-2)
Polar: 7.34%, 2 seats (N/A)
Independent: 0.82%, 0 seats

          The 1984 election was extremely surprising, as the far-right Union Party managed to get the majority of the Danish vote, getting them to third place. Siumut and Jonathan Motzfeldt were spared a humiliation by narrowly finishing above the Polar Party, but still in 4th place. All parties ruled out a coalition with the Union, leaving only one coalition left. After much negotiation, the IA, Siumut, and Polar Party would form the next government. The IA would put forward Josef "Tuusi" Motzfeldt (no relation to Jonathan Motzfeldt) as their PM candidate, and by a vote of 14-13, he would become the next Prime Minister of Greenland.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

1984-1988: IA-led Coalition Government

          The new government's first order of business was to finalize the negotiations to leave the EEC. The treaty agreed to amended the previous treaties regarding Greenland in the EEC, and arranged for the exit of Greenland from the EEC. This would go into effect in early 1985. After that, the government made an attempt at getting an independence referendum through, but Siumut would vote no, leading to the defeat of the motion 15-12. Several minor reforms would go through, such as further guaranteeing Greenlandic language rights, including requiring schools to teach Greenlandic. This angered the Union Party, with Otto Steinholdt saying that "this is a disgrace to our history and just shows how the communists want to erase the past." in 1986, negotiations between Denmark and the United States would break down about the area outside of Greenlandic control around Thule Air Base. This would lead to the Prime Minister stating that "Denmark has proven itself to not be helpful or caring of our citizens."

          In the last year and a half before the next election, discussion as to whether the Maamorilik mine in Uummannaq Municipality should be more heavily regulated, while still being expanded. For pro-independence parties, this was seen as an opportunity to gain more economic independence, but they also wished for restrictions to ensure that environmental contamination was at the very least minimal. However, the Polar Party would force the government to scale back ideas of major restrictions. Zinc prices by this point were projected to skyrocket, meaning if Greenland was to expand the mine, the profit would be quite massive. Eventually, a compromise was reached where a government-owned mining company would be created, called Greenland Minerals and Mining, but would have only slightly stricter regulations than what was currently enforced. This turned out to be a massive success. Employing around 100 people, the mine would produce nearly 300 thousand tons of zinc, totaling around $350 million dollars when sold at the market prices of the time. This was a massive boost to the GDP, and would only encourage further mining, although Prime Minister "Tuusi" Motzfeldt greeted this with the statement "We must ensure these practices are safe and will not harm the environment. This project may bring great wealth, but the livelihood of the people must come first."

          Still, there were plenty of concerns that people had. A local living in the town of Uummannaq was quoted as saying: "Nature... it's our way of life. If the mining continues, we may see it disappear." Mining would soon become the number one issue within the nation as the 1988 election approached.

Figures about the mining come from estimates, as the Maamorilik mine was open for 17 years between 1973 and 1990, and produced 12 million tonnes, so I just kinda went off that and increased it slightly. However, the mine was not owned by the government but by other companies (from what I can tell)

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

A close election ends with weeks of recounts and a narrow majority

Preliminary Results:
Inuit Ataqatgiit: 30.39%, 8 seats (-2)
Anti-Mining Party / The Greens: 17.35%, 5 seats (N/A)
Atassut: 17.32%, 5 seats (-5)
Union: 13.04%, 4 seats (+1)
Siumut: 13.01%, 3 seats (+1)
Issittup Partiia: 8.42%, 2 seats (+/- 0)
Independent: 0.47%, 0 seats

          The first results of the 1988 election were hectic, to say the least. Although the IA had gained significant support, the A-M/Greens managed to take that away and then some, leaving the IA with only 8 seats. Atassut had lost half their seats, making moderate unionism seem to be falling out of favor with the average Greenlander. IP maintained their seat count, but the most contentious part of the election was the narrow margin between the Union and Siumut. Only a total of 9 votes separated them, and the only remaining seat (given in the preliminary results to the Union) was going to be decided between who would get 4th place. This seat would also be the decider as to whether the current government would be able to reach a majority or not. If the Union were to keep their one gain, government formation would be impossible, with the IA rejecting an alliance with Atassut, all parties rejecting an alliance with the Union, and only IA being (reluctantly) open to the Greens. Weeks of recounts would see the balance shift back and forth, but eventually the results were finalized.

Final Results:
Inuit Ataqatgiit: 30.38%, 8 seats (-2)
Anti-Mining Party / The Greens: 17.36%, 5 seats (N/A)
Atassut: 17.33%, 5 seats (-5)
Siumut: 13.05%, 4 seats (+2)
Union: 13.01%, 3 seats (+/- 0)
Issittup Partiia: 8.41%, 2 seats (+/- 0)
Independent: 0.46%, 0 seats

          Otto Steinholdt would continue to contest the election results for nearly 2 months afterwards, but the IA-S-IP Government would manage to prevail with 51.84% of the votes and 14 seats.

Josef "Tuusi" Motzfeldt
Prime Minister of Greenland, 1984-?

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

1988-1992: IA-led Coalition Government

   The second term of the IA-S-IP government was very uneventful, at least compared to the first. A few new mine expansions led the economy to grow at a fast pace. The Anti-Mining movement continued to protest, but small expansions of mining continued. Meanwhile, the government negotiated with Denmark to remove some of the Danish subsidies that Greenland depended on, which became a moderate victory for the separatists, especially the incrementalist separatists like Siumut. Meanwhile, Atassut would kick out the leadership after failures, and a new leader would be elected soon before the elections...

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

so, I'm bringing this back. Each government will now also have a (6 sided) dice roll for how well they do (so something along the lines of 84-88 was about a 5, 88-92 was around a 2 or 3, etc)

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

AMP-G: 22.23%, 7 seats (+2)
IP: 22.22%, 7 seats (+5)
A: 22.20%, 7 seats (+2)
IA: 11.13% 3 seats (-5)
AP: 11.11%, 3 seats (+3)
S: 5.56%, 2 seats (-2)
U: 5.54%, 2 seats (-2)


Fatigue plagued the Government's campaign, and protests in Nuuk and Narsaq showed the Anti-mining movement's strong influence. In the end, the Pro-independence government took 12 seats, with a surprisingly strong showing for IP, and a massive collapse of the IA. However, non-government forces are extremely split, with all parties ruling out the Union, and only the IA considered the Greens. In the end, the incumbent government was the only real possibility, but then the IA walked out of negotiations, stating that with the way it was looking, the next government would be a disaster, and they wanted no part of it. No coalition was able to form, and as such, a snap election was called.