Finnish PM celebrates victory in EU vote as expected far-right surge flops

3 months ago 16

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo celebrated victory amid a record voter turnout in the European elections on Sunday, with the expected far-right surge failing to materialise.

Finland elected 15 MEPs – two more than in 2019 – to the EU parliament, with a record turnout of 51%.

Orpo’s National Coalition (EPP) came on top with 24.8% of the vote, adding a fourth member to its delegation to the parliament, according to final results.

In a major upset, the Left Alliance (GUE/NGL) more than doubled its support from the 2019 elections, reaching 17.3%. Lead candidate and incumbent member of the European Parliament (MEP) Li Andersson won 13.5% of the vote, helping to secure two seats for her party.

The Social Democratic Party (S&D), the Centre Party (Renew) and the Green League (Greens) each retained their two seats.

Finland’s Swedish minority party, the Swedish People’s Party of Finland (Renew), narrowly held on to its single seat.

What Right-Wing Surge?

As in other Nordic member states, the far right had a poor showing.

The Finns Party, a far-right populist group that has held two seats since 2014, saw its proportion of votes cut in half compared to the 2019 election, resulting in the loss of one of its seats—quite an upset since some pre-election polls suggested the party could increase its share of seats in the European Parliament.

Finns Party leader Riikka Purra did not attempt to hide her disappointment at the result.

“At this stage, I can already admit that I frankly did not believe in these latest polls that promised us an extra seat, but I did not believe in this result either. This is a clear surprise to me,” she told MTV3 on Sunday.

(Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com)