World
Finland Turns Right; Liberal Icon Sanna Marin Ousted From Power In Election
Finland's Sanna Marin was defeated by the right-wing National Coalition Party in a tight parliamentary election.
Another European state is taking a turn towards political right.
Led by Petteri Orpo, the National Coalition Party looked set to secure 48 seats while the Eurosceptic populist Finns Party, was likely to win 46 seats in the parliamentary elections in Finland, with both parties making substantial gains.
Orpo declared the National Coalition's success a "major victory" and a mandate for their policies, promising to initiate coalition talks. To achieve the required majority in the 200-seat parliament, Orpo will have to build a bloc of over 101 seats.
Sanna Marin's Social Democratic Party (SDP) was set to win 43 seats, an improvement from the last election. However, her green and left-wing coalition partners faced significant defeats.
Marin accepted the loss, but rejoiced her party's gain of 3 seats and acknowledged the democracy's decision.
At just 37 years old, Marin became the youngest leader in Europe when she took on the role of Prime Minister in December 2019. She was praised for her handling of the pandemic and for leading her country into NATO after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
However, her opponents focused on public finances and government debt during the election, making it a central debate topic.
With the most seats, Orpo, aged 53, leads the party that will try to form a government first.
Orpo, leader of Kokoomus and a member of parliament since 2007, challenged former prime minister Alexander Stubb for leadership and won.
His focus has been on reducing Finland's debt-to-GDP ratio of 73 per cent through public spending cuts, in order to make room for tax cuts.
Orpo is considering a coalition and can either join forces with the Social Democrats or team up with the Finns party for a more rightwing alliance.
The Finnish party, known for its anti-immigrant stance and distrust of EU integration, achieved its highest-ever score in the recent elections. It had previously been part of a coalition government from 2015 to 2019.
Despite Orpo's party holding a significant lead in polls since 2021, the election turned out to be a close competition with the top three parties polling within a range of 18.7-19.8 per cent.
As 99 per cent of the votes had been tallied, the National Coalition had 20.8 per cent, the Finns party had 20 per cent, and the SDP had 19.9 per cent.
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