The conservatives of the National Coalition have won the general election in Finland and their leader, Petteri Orpo, will in all probability be the next prime minister, taking over from Sanna Marin, whose social democratic party finished only third, behind the populist movement of the Finns by Riikka Purra.
At the end of the ballot, the National Coalition obtained 20.8% of the votes and 48 seats out of the 200 in the Parliament, the Finns 20.1% (46), the Social Democrats 19.9% (43). All three have gains since the 2019 elections, while the centre-left parties that made up the current governing coalition suffer losses.
“It is a great victory – said Orpo -, we have obtained the mandate from the Finnish people and we will negotiate to form a government”. And Prime Minister Marin admitted defeat. Although the polls already saw the National Coalition as the favourite, the success – albeit with minimal distances – is a little wider than expected.
In Finland it is traditional for the party with the most votes to be the first to try to form a government and normally votes for the prime minister; moreover, the conservatives of Orpo are the party that has more room for maneuver to form a government, having not excluded any type of alliance, including that with the Finns, rejected instead by most of the other movements, starting with the Social Democrats, with Prime Minister Marin who in a debate had defined some of their positions on immigration and minorities as “openly racist”.
With Finnish debt rising to more than 70% of GDP (a high percentage compared to the Nordic countries) and the stagnant economy and inflation at 8.8%, the National Coalition has focused its election campaign on the need for cuts in public spending, accusing Prime Minister Marin of having eroded Finland’s economic resilience.