Low turnout may block proposed change of royal succession order

Low turnout may block proposed change of royal succession order Copenhagen - A low turnout in the Danish elections to the European Parliament on Sunday may thwart a planned change of the law on the order of succession to the throne, news reports said Friday.

The proposed change - earlier approved by parliament - was to ensure that the first-born child of the heir to the throne was to be first in line, regardless of gender.

For the change to be approved, a majority of voters have to vote for the bill and they must constitute at least 40 per cent of the some 4 million registered voters.

A survey of 1,012 voters by polling institute Megafon indicated that the suggested change would fail to pass the threshold and only be supported by 36 per cent of all eligible voters due to lower overall turnout, the Politiken newspaper reported Friday.

The Megafon survey said 74 per cent of voters favoured the change while 26 per cent would either vote against or cast blank ballots that are counted as no votes, the Megafon survey commissioned by Poltiken and broadcaster TV2 said.

The Berlingske Tidende newspaper on Thursday published a Gallup poll suggesting 72 per cent of voters backed the change.

The change will apply in future since Crown Prince Frederik's oldest child, Prince Christian, was born before his sister, Isabella.

Christian - born October 15, 2005 - is second in line to the Danish throne after his father.

The current law of succession was introduced 1953. Queen Margrethe, who became monarch in 1972, is the oldest of three sisters. (dpa)