Danish politician Nana Harring, who represents the right-wing national-conservative Danish People's Party and is running for office in the city of Aarhus, has sparked an uproar with an image of herself in underwear.
The photograph of Harring in see-through black lace lingerie with nipples showing appeared on her Instagram the day before more serious shots of the politician promising to make Aarhus a better place popped up across the city.
"It's the same talented photographer who took both this picture and the one on my election poster. However, this is not what appears on the lampposts. Sorry", she wrote on Instagram.
Harring herself admittedly sees no contradiction between her ambitions as a politician and her social media persona.
"I don't believe in changing oneself because one wants to change society. I think I have some concrete things I would like to change to make Aarhus a better place to be. It does not affect it because I post a picture in lingerie", Harring told the newspaper BT.
"It's very much me as a candidate. I have been talking about revenge porn and nude pictures for many years. The votes I could potentially lose, I have probably lost them in advance based on the person I am. I don't want to change that", she added.
By Harring's own admission, she's received no negative internal feedback from her party. On Instagram, though, she was called a "pornlitician" who has "no shame". Furthermore, others ventured that the Danish People's Party, which since sensationally winning the Danish elections to the European Parliament in 2014, has gradually lost voters and influence in Danish politics, has “reached rock bottom”. Others, however, rejoiced and called it a "fresh contribution".
Harring, however, maintained that one can very well be a professional politician with scantily-clad photos on Instagram.
"If people change their view of me, it's their right. It's not me who has to adapt myself. There must be room for both being a private person and a politician at the same time. The fact that I post barely-dressed photos on Instagram doesn't say anything about my qualities as a politician", she insisted.