Opposition wins local elections in Finland, party of prime minister loses

HELSINKI – The center-right opposition party took first place in Sunday’s bar of choice in Finland, ahead of Prime Minister Sanne Marin’s ruling Social Democratic Party in the first election for the popular young leader, who took office 18 months ago.

With all the votes counted in the Nordic municipal elections, initial results showed Monday that the conservative National Coalition Party took 21.4 per cent of the vote across the country, while the Social Democrats took 17.7 per cent and the centrist government center Center Center 14.9 per cent .

Voting for the renewal of local councils in more than 300 municipalities in Finland, with about 35,000 candidates running from northern Lapland to the autonomous territory of the Åland Islands in the south, is considered a key indicator of party popularity ahead of the country’s 2023 parliamentary parliament. of choice.

The election was the first for Marin as head of government and her party.

She admitted that the result was a disappointment because support for the Social Democrats was lower by 1.7 percentage points compared to the 2017 elections, while the Conservatives managed to increase support by 0.7 percentage points.

“The result was not as good as I expected,” Marin told reporters late Sunday, adding that she was particularly disappointed with the low voter turnout of 55.1%.

The populist Finnish party saw its support rise by 5.6 percentage points from previous elections, to 14.5% of all votes.

Marin (35) enjoys great popularity in the country of 5.5 million, but the Social Democrats fought to attract voters, especially the younger ones, with their agenda.

The two opposition parties were considered the overall winners of the election, which was postponed by two months due to the Finnish COVID-19 situation. All but one member of Marin’s five-party coalition government, the center-left, eventually lost their seats.

The main topics that dominated the local elections were planned by the government of social and health care municipal reforms, taxation and the implications of the Finnish exit strategy COVID-19.