The Social Democrat-led group won 51.2 percent compared with 48.6 percent in 2005. The center-right government bloc parties had 43.9 percent, down more than 3 percentage points from the previous regional vote.

However, the result of Tuesday's local elections was not expected to affect the composition of the coalition government or line of policy.

The biggest winner was the Socialist People's Party which nearly doubled its support to win 14.5 percent of the vote. The gain was largely attributed to the popularity of its charismatic leader Villy Soevndal who took over the party leadership in 2005.

The party was created in 1959 by members who split away from the Danish Communist Party. Under Soevndal it has moved closer to the Social Democrats that control the top municipal jobs in the three largest cities, Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense, becoming their closest allies.

The Social Democrats are still the largest party in regional politics, winning 30.7 percent of the votes _ down 3.6 percentage points from the previous municipal elections in 2005.

The governing coalition parties _ the Liberals and the Conservatives _ lost several important mayoral posts across the country.

More than 4.2 million people were eligible to vote for the seats in Denmark's 98 municipalities and five regional councils. Turnout figures were not immediately available.

Denmark's next parliamentary election are set for 2011 at the latest.