People in Finland go to the polls tomorrow

People in Finland go to the polls tomorrow. Political parties will compete for 200 seats in parliament.

There is no electoral threshold in the country for parties to enter parliament, but a political party must receive more than 2 percent of the vote to qualify for aid from the treasury.

According to the latest polls shared in the Finnish press, the current five-party government, led by the Social Democrats, most likely will not be formed again. Experts say that it is difficult to predict which of the three parties with very close votes will be the leader in the 2019 elections.

Recent polls show the National Coalition Party will receive 20.8 percent of the vote, the Social Democratic Party 19.9 percent and the nationalist True Finns 19 percent.

Early voting in the country was completed from March 22 to 28 in various regions.

OUTSTANDING PARTIES

In Finland, the Social Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Sanna Marin, is the center-left ruling party. The party stands out for its Europeanist policies.

The far-right populist movement, the True Finns Party, led by Riikka Purra, comes to the fore with its anti-immigrant opposition. The political party, which has become popular with young voters through the use of social media and especially the active app TikTok, is accused of racist rhetoric.

The right-wing, conservative National Coalition Party, headed by Petteri Orpo, stands out as the only dominant Finnish party never to have had a female leader.

The promises of the Center Party, led by the Finnish Finance Minister, Annika Saarikko, on the economy and agriculture come to light. It is claimed that the biggest supporters of the party are from rural areas.

Known as “The Finnish Greens”, the Green Union has been criticized for losing most of its electorate to the Social Democrats. Although the party’s leader, Maria Ohisalo, served as interior minister in 2019-2021, she has been criticized for failing to make a mark. The Left Alliance, led by Li Andersson, the current government’s education minister, is expected to increase its votes in this election.

In addition to these main parties in Finland, a party that supports feminism, an animal rights party and many new smaller parties will also participate in the elections. (AA)