Finland’s Prime Minister and Chair of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) Sanna Marin, 38, lost a tight election on Sunday to the National Coalition Party (a.k.a. Kokoomus), led by Petteri Orpo, 53. Finland’s democratic system is very much like Israel’s, and since neither party came even close to winning a majority in the 200-seat parliament, Orpo will have the unenviable task of putting together a governing coalition.
This might be a good time to make a phone call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who accomplished this task six times.
With almost 100% of the votes counted, the social democrats finished third in Sunday’s vote, with 43 seats and 19.9% of the vote. Orpo’s party had 48 seats with 20.8% of the vote, and Riikka Purra’s Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns, took 46 seats and 20% of the vote.
Even though all three leading gained seats compared to the 2019 election, Marin, formerly the world’s youngest head of government, will be stepping down and her party will move back to the opposition benches.
Orpo is expected to start talks to form a government with Purra’s Finns Party to form Finland’s most right-wing government since the end of WW2. But Orpo would have to add a third coalition partner to go past the 100-seat majority. A likely candidate is liberal economist Liike Nyt, Chairman of the Christian Democrats.
Here’s another familiar note: according to EuroNews, Orpo is bound to be hit by left-leaning EU countries for including the Finns Party, which is commonly depicted as a “far-right populist party,” in his government, since its most popular leaders have been convicted on race-related offenses.
