Finland election: Tough coalition talks after split poll

(FASTNEWS|COLOMBO) – The Social Democratic Party has won a narrow victory in Finland’s general election with 17.7% of the vote.

But the far-right Finns Party was close behind on 17.5%, while the Centre Party of outgoing PM Juha Sipila saw its support crash by a third to 13.8%.

“For the first time since 1999 we are the largest party in Finland,” said SDP leader Antti Rinne.

But with the vote split and no party winning by a clear margin, it may be hard to build a workable coalition.

The Greens and the Left Alliance also increased their share of the vote.

It is the first time in more than a century that no party has won more than 20% of the vote.

Voter turnout was 72%.

The Social Democrats have won 40 seats in the 200-seat parliament, one more than the Finns Party.

At the last election in 2015, the Finns Party won 38 seats, but MPs split after a leadership election in 2017.

For Jussi Halla-aho, who has led the Finns Party since then, the rebuilding of the party’s parliamentary block was a cause for celebration.

“I could not expect a result like this, and no-one could, ” he told supporters on Sunday evening.

Mr Halla-aho had urged people to “vote for some borders” during the election campaign.

Before the election, most other parties ruled out any coalition with the Finns Party.