Finland’s right-wing party claims election victory

Kathmandu: Finland’s right-wing leader claimed victory in Sunday’s general election, with current prime minister Sanna Marin conceding defeat.

With 97.7% of the votes counted, the centre-right National Coalition Party (NCP) has claimed victory in the tightly contested parliamentary election.

‘This was a great victory,” the 53-year-old head of the conservative NCP Petteri Orpo told his supporters, ‘On the basis of this election result … we will start negotiating a government in Finland.’

The NCP was expected to clinch 48 of the 200-seat parliament while the far-right nationalist Finns Party has finished second with 46 seats.

Marin’s Social Democrats has finished third with 43 seats, according to justice ministry election data. She, though popular among many Finns, has come under criticism for her partying and her government’s big spending.

As no party is in a position to form a government alone, Orpo has to form a government either with the support of far-right Finns Party or with the Social Democrats.