Finland’s main conservative party claimed victory in parliamentary elections Sunday in a tight three-way race that saw right-wing populists take second place, leaving Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democratic Party in third, dashing her reelection hopes. The results were hailed in the EU by populist parties, allies of The Finns.
In a joint note sent to Express.co.uk, Italian Lega MEPs Marco Zanni and Marco Campomenosi argued the election result was a clear “rejection” of Brussels.
They said: “Despite support from the establishment and half the world’s media, Finnish voters are sending home the idols of the left.
“Today mainstream commentators and pundits in Europe and Italy will cling to crazy definitions such as ‘ultra right’ or ‘extreme right’ to try to explain the disappointing result by the young leader of the left-wing party.
“In reality, what happened in Finland, with the end of the Marin era and the growth of the League’s allies, follows what has already happened in Sweden, Italy, the Dutch regionals and hopefully soon also in Spain, a clear rejection by the voters Europeans to the extremist policies of an EU that goes against its own citizens to pursue its own ideological agenda.
“The clear rejection by citizens of the whole continent of the recipes of the pro-immigration and pro-tax radical chic left is increasingly evident, in favour of forces that propose common-sense solutions to respond to the needs of businesses, agriculture, workers and families, and who want a different Europe than the current one.”
The centre-right National Coalition Party (NCP) claimed victory with all of the votes counted, coming out on top at 20.8 percent. They were followed by right-wing populist party The Finns with 20.1 percent, while the Social Democrats garnered 19.9 percent.
Over 2,400 candidates from 22 parties were vying for the 200 seats in the Nordic country’s parliament.
NCP leader Petteri Orpo said: “Based on this result, talks over forming a new government to Finland will be initiated under the leadership of the National Coalition Party.”
Marin, who at age 37 is one of Europe’s youngest leaders, has received international praise for her vocal support of Ukraine and her prominent role, along with President Sauli Niinistö, in advocating for Finland’s successful application to join NATO.
The 53-year-old Orpo, Finland’s former finance minister and likely new prime minister, assured that the Nordic country’s solidarity with Kyiv would remain strong during his tenure.
Orpo added: “First to Ukraine: we stand by you, with you.
“We cannot accept this terrible war. And we will do all that is needed to help Ukraine, Ukrainian people because they fight for us. This is clear.
“And the message to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is: go away from Ukraine because you will lose.”
Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, cleared the last hurdles of becoming a NATO member earlier in the week as alliance members Turkey and Hungary signed off the country’s membership bid.
NCP’s share of votes translates into 48 seats in the Eduskunta, Finland’s Parliament, while The Finns, a nationalist party running largely on an anti-immigration and anti-European Union agenda, is to get 46 seats and Marin’s Social Democrats 43 seats respectively.
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Observers say the result means a power shift in Finland’s political scene as the nation is now likely to get a new centre-right government with nationalist tones. The government will replace the centre-left Cabinet with Marin, a highly popular prime minister at home and abroad since 2019.
Echoing the Italian MEPs’ claims, Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, Dr Helena Ivanov, also told this website: “These are the 3rd elections in which right-wing are scoring excellent results – with the Finns Party winning a record-breaking 20.1 percent of the vote and leading ahead of Marin’s Social Democrats.
“At this point, after Italy and Sweden, we could even argue that we are seeing a domino effect across Europe – and things could get even more complicated after the elections in Spain later this year. Again, I must argue that Europe, the EU, and Centre-left parties need to find ways to address the dissatisfaction among the voters or they risk populist parties and governments dominating across the block.”
