Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin's centre-left political party was narrowly defeated in the country's parliamentary elections on Sunday, with her Social Democratic Party finishing third behind Finland's main conservative party and far-right nationalist party in a fiercely contested race.
With all the votes counted, the centre-right National Coalition Party (NCP), led by former Finance Minister Petteri Orpo, had earned 20.8% of the votes, ahead of Riikka Purra's populist Finns Party on 20.1% and Marin's Social Democrats (SDP) on 19.9%.
In terms of parliamentary seats, Finland's proportional representation system implies that the NCP will be awarded 48 seats in the Eduskunta, or Finnish Parliament, while the Finns and SDP will earn 46 and 43 seats respectively.
The results also mean that all three parties made gains in terms of both total votes earned and seats won since the country's previous election in 2019, with the Finns Party registering its best-ever vote total. The Centre Party, the Greens, and the Left Alliance all lost seats.
'A great victory'
"This is a great victory," Orpo, 53, told his supporters shortly after the results were officially announced. "The Finnish people want change, and that's why the National Coalition Party is the biggest party in Finland now."
He added: "Based on this result, talks over forming a new government to Finland will be initiated under the leadership of the National Coalition Party."
Orpo also played down the dangers of the virulently anti-immigrant and eurosceptic Finns Party's electoral success. "We don't have a far-right party in Finland," Orpo said, in effect suggesting that he was open to forming a coalition government with the Finns Party as well as with Marin's SDP.
'A really good achievement'
The 37-year-old Marin, who was the world's youngest state leader when elected back in 2019, attempted to put a positive spin on her defeat.
"It's a really good achievement, even though we didn't finish first today," she said. "We have gained support, we have gained more seats [in parliament]."
Marin, who had previously labelled the Finns Party "openly racist" during the campaign, also congratulated the other main parties on their electoral achievements. "Congratulations to the winner of the elections, congratulations to the National Coalition, congratulations to the Finns Party, democracy has spoken," she said.
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Though praised abroad for her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and navigation of Finland's recent application to join NATO, Marin has faced significant domestic criticism for government's perceived fiscal profligacy as well as her own private life.
According to current economic forecasts, Finland's government debt-to-GDP ratio is set to reach 73% of GDP by the end of this year — above the EU's legal threshold of 60% — while its deficit is set to grow to over 2.5% by 2025. Inflation was also registered at 8% in February, up from 7.9% in January.
During the campaign, both the NCP and the Finns had promised to drastically cut public spending and impose stricter controls on the country's immigration system. However, all three main parties support Finland's accession to NATO, which is set to be formally confirmed within the next few days.
"First to Ukraine: we stand by you, with you," Orpo told the AP at NCP's victory party. "We cannot accept this terrible war. And we will do all that is needed to help Ukraine [and] Ukrainian people because they fight for us. This is clear."
