Finland election 2023: Sanna Marin concedes defeat

0


The 53-year-old Orpo, Finland’s former finance minister and likely new prime minister, assured that the Nordic country’s solidarity with Kyiv would remain strong during his tenure.

“First to Ukraine: we stand by you, with you,” Orpo said at NCP’s victory event. “We cannot accept this terrible war. And we will do all that is needed to help Ukraine, Ukrainian people because they fight for us. This is clear.”

The Finns Party leader Riikka Purra.Credit:AP

“And the message to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is: go away from Ukraine because you will lose.”

Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, cleared the last hurdles of becoming a NATO member earlier in the week as alliance members Turkey and Hungary signed off the country’s membership bid.

A voter leaves a polling booth at a polling station in Turku, Finland.

A voter leaves a polling booth at a polling station in Turku, Finland.Credit:AP

NCP’s share of votes translates into 48 seats in the Eduskunta, Finland’s parliament, while The Finns, a nationalist party running largely on an anti-immigration and anti-European Union agenda, is to get 46 seats and Marin’s Social Democrats 43 seats, respectively.

Observers say the result means a power shift in Finland’s political scene as the nation is now likely to get a new centre-right government with nationalist tones. The government will replace the centre-left cabinet by Marin, a highly popular prime minister at home and abroad since 2019.

Government formation talks led by the NCP are expected to start in the coming days with goal of putting together a Cabinet enjoying a majority at the Parliament.

“I trust the Finnish tradition of negotiating with all parties, and trying to find the best possible majority government for Finland,” Orpo said.

“And you know what is important for us? It’s that we are an active member of the European Union. We build up NATO-Finland, and we fix our economy. We boost our economic growth and create new jobs. These are the crucial, main, important issues we have to write into the government program.”

Loading

The positions of Marin’s party on the Finnish economy emerged as a main campaign theme and were challenged by conservatives, who remain critical of the Social Democrats’ economic policies and are unlikely to partner with them.

Orpo had hammered on Finland’s growing government debt and the need to make budget cuts throughout the election. NCP is open to co-operation with The Finns as the two parties largely share view on developing Finland’s economy though have differences in climate policies and EU issues.

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland to seek NATO membership in May 2022, neither the historic decision to abandon the nation’s non-alignment policy nor the war emerged as major campaign issues as there was a large consensus among the parties on membership.

Finland, which is expected to join NATO in the coming weeks, is a European Union member.

The initial voter turnout in the election was 71.9 per cent, slightly down from the 2019 election.

AP, Reuters

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.



Source link

Denial of responsibility! Planetconcerns is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.

Leave a comment