Defeat for Sanna Marin as Finland shifts right after general election

Despite winning in Sunday’s election, the Marins party came only third behind the conservative National Coalition Party and the right-wing populist party The Finns, according to a preliminary tally of all votes.

Former finance minister Petteri Orpo’s Conservatives narrowly won with 48 of 200 seats. The Finns won 46 seats, the Social Democrats 43. This means that the northernmost member state of the EU is about to change government. However, this does not affect the country’s accession to NATO, which has already been decided and is largely undisputed in Finland.

“You know what? That was a nice victory,” said former opposition leader Orpo late in the evening to cheering party supporters in Helsinki. Under his leadership, talks about forming a new Finnish government would begin.

Traditionally, the strongest party in Finland is first instructed to explore the options for a new government. A minimum of three parties are required for a majority in parliament. The 53-year-old Orpo now has the best chance of becoming the new prime minister and thus the successor to Marin.

The sitting prime minister pointed out to supporters that the party at the top of the government had made gains for the first time in a long time. “We did a good job,” said Marin – and was defeated: “Democracy has spoken.”

Finland previously experienced a tense election night. A first trend immediately after the polls closed was that conservatives and social democrats were almost on an equal footing. The right-wing populists led by Riikka Purra followed at a closer distance, but caught up in the course of the evening.

In the end, the Conservatives came out on top with 20.8 percent, ahead of the Finns with 20.1 percent and the Marin Social Democrats with 19.9 percent. The turnout was 71.9 percent, about the level of the previous parliamentary elections in 2019.

Sanna Marin has been Prime Minister of Finland since the end of 2019. Since then she has become one of the most respected politicians in the EU. The 37-year-old social democrat leads a centre-left coalition of five parties. Many Finns appreciate her as a modern and powerful head of government.

Your government has led the country first through the corona pandemic and then together with President Sauli Niinistö through the NATO accession process, which will soon be completed: all 30 current alliance members have now agreed to admit the Finns, and Finland will join in a few days to NATO Indications official 31st member of the Defense Alliance.

Accession to NATO, however, played no role in the election campaign. Instead, the main focus was on domestic issues, such as increased government spending. Marin’s opponents accuse her of inflating the national debt. Orpo promised a new economic policy.

In the previous parliamentary elections four years ago, the three parties were less than one percentage point apart – with the best result for the Social Democrats, who then came in at 17.7 percent. The fact that they now have a better result than before is unusual for Finnish standards and is mainly attributed to the popularity of Marin. Typically, the party at the top of the government in Finland loses support over the course of its tenure, while the opposition gains.

What is striking about the figures: the three largest parties were all well above their share of the vote in 2019. All current government parties, with the exception of the Social Democrats, suffered losses, with the Greens in particular falling sharply.

Because the election campaign was very focused on the polarization between left and right, it was difficult for her party to express its own views, GroenLinks leader Maria Ohisalo said early in the evening. “Of course it’s a disappointment.” (sda/dpa)