Conservative Party of Finland NCP wins tightly-fought elections
Finland’s main conservative party has claimed victory in a tightly-fought parliamentary election.
With all of the votes counted on Sunday, the centre-right National Coalition Party (NCP) came out on top at 20.8 percent. They were followed by the right-wing populist party, The Finns, with 20.1 percent, while Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democrats garnered 19.9 percent.
With the top three parties each getting around 20 percent of the vote, no party is in a position to form a government alone. Over 2,400 candidates from 22 parties were vying for the 200 seats in the Nordic country’s parliament, Al-Jazeera reported today.
“We got the biggest mandate,” NCP leader Petteri Orpo said as he claimed victory, surrounded by supporters in a restaurant in the capital, Helsinki.
“Based on this result, talks over forming a new government to Finland will be initiated under the leadership of the National Coalition Party,” he said.
Marin, who at age 37 is one of Europe’s youngest leaders, conceded defeat.
“Congratulations to the winner of the elections, congratulations to the National Coalition Party, congratulations to The Finns Party. Democracy has spoken,” the prime minister said in a speech to party members.
“We have gained support, we have gained more seats [in parliament]. That is an excellent achievement, even if we did not finish first today,” she added. Courtesy Aljazeera.com
