Finland's politics redrawn by nationalist surge

• Finland's anti-euro party causes election upset
• After the election, Sweden is in denial

Finland's parliament was completely re-shuffled by weekend elections, with seven out of eight parties losing ground at the hands of the nationalist, right-wing True Finns, who were until Sunday the smallest party in parliament.

The conservative National Coalition became Finland's biggest party with 44 seats in the 200-seat house, followed closely by the Social Democrats (SDP), with 42, and the True Finns with 39.

The once tiny anti-EU and anti-immigration party had entered the last parliament in 2007 with just five seats, although it gained one seat during the four-year term when a member of exiting Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi's Centre Party, which came in fourth Sunday, changed sides.

Here are the official results published by the national election commission:

% vote seats

National Coalition Party 20.4 44 (-6)

Social Democratic Party 19.1 42 (-3)

True Finns Party 19.1 39 (+34)

Centre Party 15.8 35 (-16)

Left Alliance 8.1 14 (-3)

Green League 7.3 10 (-5)

Swedish People's Party 4.3 9 (=)

Christian Democrats 4.0 6 (-1)

Other 0.4 1

One seat in parliament is reserved for a representative of the autonomous province of Aaland (other).

 

Last Updated (Thursday, 21 April 2011 18:34)

 
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