- Finland is electing a new parliament today.
- Three parties are fighting for the lead.
- Among them is the party of the incumbent Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
Shortly before joining NATO, Finland will elect a new parliament on Sunday. Three parties have a chance of becoming the strongest force in the EU’s northernmost country.
The conservative National Coalition Party of ex-finance minister and opposition leader Petteri Orpo is slightly favoured. In the most recent polls, however, it was only very slightly ahead of the right-wing populist party The Finns and Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democrats.
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Three parties are struggling to become the strongest force in Finland.
Keystone/Markku Ulander
In the last parliamentary election in 2019, the three parties were separated by less than one percentage point – at that time with the best outcome for the Social Democrats.
Marin has been Prime Minister of Finland since the end of 2019. The 37-year-old leads a five-party centre-left coalition and is valued by many Finns.
Her opponents, on the other hand, accuse her government of having boosted government spending. Who will be the strongest force in the end was completely open before the election Sunday.
Conservatives are ahead
In the last pre-election poll by Finnish broadcaster Yle, Orpo’s conservatives received 19.8 percent of the votes, the Finns party around its leader Riikka Purra 19.5 percent and Marin’s social democrats 18.7 percent.
The leader of the party with the most votes traditionally gets the first chance to form a new government in Finland. However, long and tough coalition negotiations are expected, since several parties have ruled out cooperation with the right-wing populists.
For a majority, the winner of the election is likely to depend on one other of the major parties and at least one of the medium-sized and smaller parties.
Finland becomes a NATO member
In May 2022, under the impression of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Finland had applied for NATO membership together with Sweden. After the recent approval of Hungary and Turkey, all 30 NATO members have ratified the accession, which means that only formalities are still outstanding for Finnish membership. According to NATO information, Finland will officially become a member in the coming days.
However, joining NATO played no role in the election campaign. In general, there is a great deal of consensus in Finland on this point, which is why the parties were hardly able to gain any points over their opponents on the subject. Instead, the main focus was on domestic issues such as increased government spending.
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How the Finns decide politically can be seen in the night from Sunday to Monday.
Keystone/Sergei Grits
The polling stations are open until 8 p.m. on Sunday. Immediately afterwards, a first election trend based on early votes is expected. There could still be a lot to do with these first numbers in the course of the evening. A preliminary final result should be available around midnight on Monday night.