Local elections were held in 2021 for Denmark's 98 municipal councils and five regional councils. All 2,436 seats were contested for the 2022–2025 term of office, together with 205 seats in five regional councils. Frederiksberg Municipality had increased their number of councillors from 25 to 29.
The regions are not municipalities but are financed only through block grants.
In four of the five regions, the incumbent chairman kept the position. However, in the North Denmark Region, an agreement was made between Venstre, the Danish People's Party, New Right and the Conservative People's Party to give the chairmanship to Mads Duedahl of Venstre. This was the first time since the region's establishment in 2007 that the Social Democrats did not win the region's chairmanship.[2]
Seats for the 98 municipal councils were up for vote.
The Conservatives had their best local election results since 1985.
The mayors (Danish: borgmester; plural: borgmestre) of the 98 municipalities head the council meetings and are the chair of the finance committee in each of their respective municipalities. Only in Copenhagen, this mayor – the head of the finance committee and council meetings – is called the lord mayor (Danish: overborgmester).
The term of office for the mayors elected by the majority of councillors among its members in each municipal council is the same as for the councils elected, namely 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2025. The correct name for the Municipality on the somewhat remote island of Bornholm is Regional Municipality, because the Municipality also handles several tasks not carried out by the other Danish municipalities but by the regions.