Left-wing opposition party wins Greenland election

COPENHAGEN: Greenland's main opposition party, which opposes a rare earth mining project, has become the biggest in parliament after securing more than a third of votes in a snap election, state broadcaster KNR said on Wednesday (Apr 7).

With nearly all votes counted, the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party took 37 per cent of votes, unseating the ruling social democratic Siumut party which secured 29 per cent of votes, official data showed.

The election result, closely watched by international mining companies wanting to exploit Greenland's huge untapped minerals resources, casts doubt on a mining complex at Kvanefjeld in the south of the island holding one of the world's biggest deposits of rare earth metals.