Conservative Petteri Orpo has declared his party the winner of Finland’s parliamentary elections. “You know what? That was a big win,” the leader of the formerly opposition National Coalition Party said to cheering supporters late on Sunday night in Helsinki. After tallying 96.8 percent of the vote, Orpo’s party had won 48 out of 200 The right-wing populist Die Finnen came second with 46 seats, while Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democrats have 43 seats.
“With this result, we are starting to build a new government for Finland,” Orpo, 53, announced. The Social Democrats of Prime Minister Marin (37) lost their position as the strongest parliamentarian. A provisional final result was expected around midnight on Monday evening. Voter turnout was 71.9 percent, about the same as in the last parliamentary election in 2019.
After the first projection on the public television channel Yle, Orpo spoke of a “strong mandate for our politics”. Marin pointed out that not all votes have been counted yet. The head of the Finnish party, Riikka Purra, said if the result is confirmed it would be excellent. Nevertheless, we continue to strive for first place.
Marin popular in EU
It is important which party is the strongest, because traditionally in Finland its leader is the first to form a government. For a parliamentary majority, the winner of the election will probably have to rely on another major party and at least one of the medium and smaller parties. Sanna Marin has been Prime Minister of Finland since the end of 2019. Since then she has become one of the most sought-after politicians in the EU. The 37-year-old social democrat leads a centre-left coalition of five parties. Many Finns appreciate her as a young, modern and powerful leader.
Source: Krone
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