Voters were tipped to oust Finland’s pro-European and pro-Nato Prime Minister in yesterday’s election, with counts from early voting showing a win for an Opposition party that may need to rule in a coalition with Eurosceptic nationalists.
Around 32 per cent of Finns voted ahead of Sunday’s elections and pollsters warn the results can be skewed to certain geographical regions. A more accurate estimate of votes was expected later in the night.
But the early results confirmed what polls have said for weeks. Opposition Centre Party leader Juha Sipila, who has backing of the urban middle class and rural conservatives, had the biggest share of votes, with 23.2 per cent.
The main parties in the outgoing government, centre-right National Coalition and Social Democrats, scored 17.9 per cent and 17.7 per cent, respectively. The eurosceptic Finns Party came fourth with 15.8 per cent.
Sipila is expected to become prime minister of the eurozone country, succeeding Alexander Stubb of the National Coalition Party.
The early results have confirmed what the polls have said for weeks
“I am very satisfied with this result, it looks very good. That would be some seven percentage points more than what we got in last election,” Sipila told public broadcaster YLE, while declining to declare victory.
Sipila has said he is open to including the Finns Party, formerly known as True Finns, in a coalition, even though they could complicate ties with Europe because they oppose bailouts and want to kick Greece out of the eurozone.
A new government coalition that includes The Finns Party could reinforce Finland’s hardline stance over bailouts in the eurozone just as the battle for Greece’s future in the bloc nears a climax.
Stubb, who favours Nato membership for Finland, has led a quarrelsome left-right coalition widely blamed for failing to revive the economy and curb public debt growth after three years of recession.
The economy has been hit by weak private consumption and turbulence in neighbouring Russia, a major trading partner.
The Finnish economy is expected to grow just 0.5 per cent in 2015, according to the finance ministry. The new coalition is seen cutting public spending and carrying out difficult structural reforms to rein in debt.
On Thursday, an opinion poll by public broadcaster YLE showed the Centre Party leading with around 24 per cent of the vote. National Coalition and The Finns scored about 17 per cent each.
The centre-left Social Democrats, a partner in Stubb’s government, trailed behind with around 15 per cent of the votes, but more than 40 per cent of those polled were undecided.
With a tradition of having majority coalitions, Finland’s next government will probably include the Centre Party and two of the three runners-up. But the election is likely to open up several possible combinations, which means government talks could last several weeks.
Traditionally, the second placed party is awarded the finance minister post in the future ruling coalition.