People in Finland go to the polls tomorrow

Finland, which previously had a veto from Türkiye on NATO membership, received Türkiye's approval after fulfilling the necessary conditions. Regarding NATO membership, political parties from Türkiye to Finland will compete for 200 seats in the parliament.

There is no electoral threshold in the country for parties to enter parliament, but a political party must receive more than 2 percent of the votes to benefit from treasury aid. According to the latest polls shared in the Finnish press, the current five-party government, led by the Social Democrats, will most likely not be formed once again.

Experts state that it is difficult to predict which of the three parties with very close votes will be the leader in the 2019 elections. Recent polls show the National Coalition Party will receive 20.8 percent of the vote, the Social Democratic Party 19.9 percent and the nationalist True Finns 19 percent.

Early voting in the country was completed on March 22-28 in various regions.

IMPORTANT POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE COUNTRY AND THEIR TENDENCIES

In Finland, the Social Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Marin, is the ruling centre-left party. The party stands out with its pro-European policies. The extreme right-wing populist movement, the True Finns Party, led by Riikka Purra, comes to the fore with its anti-immigrant opposition. The political party, which has become popular among young voters with the use of social media and especially the active TikTok application, is accused of racist rhetoric.

The right-wing and conservative National Coalition Party, headed by Petteri Orpo, draws attention as the only mainstream Finnish party that has never had a female leader. The promises of the Center Party, led by Finnish Finance Minister Annika Saarikko, on economy and agriculture come to the fore. It is stated that the biggest supporters of the party are from rural areas.

Known as "Finland's Greens", the Green Union has been criticized for losing a large part of its electorate to the social democrats. Although the leader of the party, Maria Ohisalo, served as interior minister in 2019-2021, she has been criticized for not having an action that leaves a mark.

The Left Alliance, led by Li Andersson, the education minister in the current government, is expected to increase its votes this election. In addition to these mainstream parties in Finland, a party supporting feminism, an animal rights party and many new smaller parties will also participate in the election.

PRIME MINISTER MARIN WAS FOCUS OF CRITICISM

While Finnish Prime Minister Marin was appreciated for his policies during the COVID-19 epidemic and it was thought that he carried out the process successfully, he was also criticized for his lifestyle and the fact that he did not follow the rules during the epidemic.

Although the COVID-19 test result was positive in December 2021, Marin, who turned out to have gone to a bar in the capital Helsinki, had a hard time with the viral video of the dance videos taken at the nightclub he went to with his friends in the summer of 2022. The Finnish Prime Minister had to apologize for these videos.

In addition, the Lapp Parliament Act, which was committed by the Marin government and which Lapps had been waiting for a long time, failed to pass the final committee stage in the Finnish Parliament. When it became clear that little work had been done on the subject, Marin again made an apology speech.

Marin, who started the country's application process for NATO membership, receives the support of the public in this regard. Marin, who focused on issues such as the environment and migration in his last election campaign, placed the economy at the center of his campaign this time. It is stated that Marin, as a leader, has more vote potential than his party.

In the 2019 elections, 9 parties gained representation in the parliament. In the general elections held in Finland in April 2019, 9 parties gained representation in the parliament.

After these elections, the country was governed for only 6 months under the premiership of Antti Rinne, the leader of the Social Democratic Party. Rinne resigned in December 2019, losing confidence in the coalition government due to the strikes in the country, and was replaced by the current leader of the party, Sanna Marin.

The cabinet, headed by Marin, consists of a coalition of which the Social Democratic Party, the Center Party, the Green Union, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party are part. There are 19 ministers in Sanna Marin's cabinet. 7 ministers from the Social Democratic Party, 5 from the Center Party, 3 from the Green Union, 2 each from the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party are in the cabinet.

The parties that completed the 2019 elections in the top three places were the Social Democratic Party, the Real Finns Party and the National Coalition Party, respectively.