Helsinki, April 2 (AFP/APP): Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democrats were tied with the centre-right National Coalition in the first partial results from Sunday’s general election, with the far right trailing in third place.
Marin, who became the world’s youngest prime minister in 2019 at age 34, is fighting for a second term just days before Finland’s historic accession to the NATO defence alliance.
With 45 percent of the votes counted, the Social Democrats and the conservative National Coalition Party both had 20.7 percent, while the far-right Finns Party stood at 18.7 percent, according to the justice ministry.
“Let’s take our time, but now we have a good start, a very good start,” National Coalition leader Petteri Orpo told reporters in Helsinki.
Significant changes are still possible in the results as more votes are counted, with full results expected between 10:00 pm and midnight (1900 and 2100 GMT).
Traditionally, the biggest of the eight main parties in parliament gets the first chance at building a government, and since the 1990s the largest party has always taken the prime minister’s office.
“I am really grateful for all the votes that have been cast so far,” Marin said in Helsinki.
While the Finns Party was behind in the advance voting results, they traditionally improve their standing as more votes from the Election Day are counted.
“You have to be in suspense for quite a long time. In 2019, we went up after the early votes,” far-right leader Riikka Purra said.
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