THE ELECTIONS to the European Parliament held on Sunday were a win, although not an emphatic one, for pro-EU parties in Finland.
The National Coalition Party received 20.8 per cent of the vote to become the only party to win three seats in the European Parliament for 2019–2024. The Green League rallied to the best election result in its history, seeing its vote share jump by 6.7 percentage points to 16.4 per cent and winning two seats in the European Parliament.
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Finland’s 13 MEPs in 2019–2024:
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The party is also secured the additional seat that will be due to Finland if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
The Social Democratic Party, in turn, registered a noticeable but – given its standing as the country’s largest party – probably slightly disappointing up-tick of 2.3 percentage points in support to clinch two seats with a vote share of 14.6 per cent.
Although the National Coalition, Green League and Social Democrats are all supporters of a strong European Union, the elections were not an emphatic win for pro-EU parties in Finland.
The National Coalition saw its vote share decrease by 1.8 percentage points and the Centre by as much as 6.1 percentage points, winning only 13.5 per cent of the vote and two seats in Brussels. The Left Alliance recorded a 2.4 percentage-point drop in popular support to secure 6.9 per cent of the vote and one seat in Brussels.
The Finns Party, the foremost euro-sceptic party in Finland, saw its vote share grow by one percentage point to 13.8 per cent and will have two representatives in the European Parliament in 2019–2024.
The 13th and final seat went to Nils Torvalds of the Swedish People’s Party.
The results are largely in line with those reported in other EU countries, with the traditional big parties suffering losses and green, liberal and nationalist parties contrastively increasing their presence in Brussels.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: Uusi Suomi
