The centre-right won yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Finland, with the conservative National Alliance Party (NCP) leading the way and the far right with a record number of votes.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin of the Social Democrats has conceded her party’s defeat in today’s parliamentary elections in Finland. “Democracy has spoken, the Finnish people have voted, and celebrating democracy is always great,” he added. “We have every reason to be happy with this result.”

The candidate of the party that comes first is traditionally the prime minister in Finland – an unwritten rule that has been observed without exception since 1987 – provided that he can win a majority in parliament.

Yle estimates that the difference in the number of votes will be even smaller: 20.9% for the centre-right, 20.3% for the far right and 19.7% for the Social Democrats.

The country’s parliament has 200 seats. Forming a government takes an average of six weeks.

Petri Orpo, leader of the centre-right National Alliance Party (PNS), announced his victory in the country’s parliamentary elections last night and is expected to replace Sana Marin, leader of the Social Democratic Party, as prime minister.

“This is a big win,” the 53-year-old former finance minister told supporters of his party. “We will start negotiations on a government in Finland,” he stressed.

With 93.4% of votes counted, the PNK holds more parliamentary seats than any other party.

Petri Orbo: Who is the new Prime Minister?

Petri Orpo, the 53-year-old head of the center-right National Alliance party, is the longest-serving politician of the top three prime minister contenders.

He was first elected to parliament in 2007 and served as minister three times. He holds a Master’s degree in political science from the University of Turku, majoring in economics.

In October, he was accused of demeaning women and had to apologize after referring to the “screeches” of Marin and Finance Minister Annika Saariko during a debate.

While Marin ruled out forming a government with an “openly racist” populist Finns Party, Orpo said he would keep his options open.

Despite his party’s disagreement with the Finns Party over immigration, the EU and the climate still “have a lot in common,” he said.

Message to Putin and transition to fiscal

“Ukraine first: we are next to you, with you,” Orpo told the Associated Press at an event dedicated to the victory of the PNK. “We cannot accept this terrible war. And we will do our best to help Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, because they are fighting for us. It is clear”.

“And a message to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin: get out of Ukraine because you will lose,” he added.

Finland, which borders Russia, overcame the latest obstacles to NATO membership earlier this week when alliance members Turkey and Hungary signed the country’s membership application.

“And you know what is important to us? It is that we are an active member of the European Union. We are building NATO-Finland and rebuilding our economy. We are strengthening our economic development and creating new jobs. These are critical, basic, important issues that we must write in the government’s program,” he said.

According to the latest official data, Finland’s debt rose to 70.9% in the third quarter of 2022 from 68.7% in the same quarter of 2021, a key issue in the election campaign. Orpo argued that rising debt was jeopardizing Finland’s welfare benefits, saying the country needed to “realize where the government’s indifference to debt is leading.”

Sources: AMPE, Reuters, AFP.