Finland’s Legislative Elections: A Shift to the Right?
Image Source: Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin greets voters at a Social Democrat campaign rally, a day before the parliamentary election, in Helsinki, Finland April 1, 2023. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
As Finland gears up for legislative elections, there is growing concern that the country could take a dramatic turn to the right, with center-right and anti-immigration parties vying to unseat Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin. The vote comes just days ahead of Finland’s formal accession to the NATO defense alliance and after the far-right’s victory in Italy and the breakthrough by nationalists in
neighboring Sweden last year.
While Marin ranks as Finland’s most popular prime minister this century in polls, she is struggling to convert her popularity into SDP seats in parliament. According to the latest survey by public broadcaster Yle, the center-right National Coalition holds a thin lead at 19.8 percent, with the nationalist Euroskeptic Finns Party in second place at 19.5 percent.
The rise of the Finns Party, which sees an EU exit as its long-term goal and wants to postpone Finland’s target of carbon neutrality for 2035, has raised concerns among women‘s groups and minority communities. The party’s hard-line stance on immigration has been criticized as racist and discriminatory.
Despite her popularity, Marin faces opposition from those who see the rising public debt on her watch and scandals over video clips of her partying as signs of her inexperience. Finland’s debt-to-GDP ratio has
risen from 64 percent in 2019 to 73 percent, which the National Coalition wants to address by cutting spending by six billion euros ($6.5 billion). Marin has defended her track record and accused the National Coalition of wanting to “take from the poor to give to the rich.”
Negotiations to build a government are expected to be thorny, with Marin ruling out forming a government with what she calls the “openly racist” Finns Party, while National Coalition leader Petteri Orpo has said he will keep his options open, despite clashing with the Finns Party on immigration, the EU, and climate policy.
Staff Reporter
