Sanna Marin is officially defeated in the elections in Finland.

His popularity was not enough for the Social Democrats, who were ousted by the Conservatives.

After a prolonged head-to-head, the leader of the national coalition Petteri Orpo claimed victory and the outgoing prime minister granted it to him. Also making noise is the boom of the extreme right , which becomes the second force in the country and grows to the highest level in its history.

Government formation, however, remains a puzzle. In the vote for the renewal of the Eduskunta, the Finnish unicameral parliament, with more than 96% of the votes counted, the center-right is credited with obtaining 48 seats out of a total of 200, while the national-populist and Eurosceptic party of the "True Finns" of Riikka Purra he gets 46. The party of the outgoing 37-year-old premier should get 43.

The vote in Finland comes just a few days after the last go-ahead missing for the historic accession to NATO , with ratification in Turkey arriving on Thursday, but the issue is so shared that it has remained out of the debate.

The 37-year-old Marin, well known abroad, very popular at home, also thanks to exemplary management of the pandemic, has moved the Social Democrats to the left in the electoral campaign, focusing on welfare and above all on education which she believes is capable of bringing the wealth of the country, instead attributing the increase in public debt only to the pandemic and crisis in Ukraine and saying she is against any spending cuts.

The Orpo Coalition instead calls for austerity measures for 6 billion euros , to bring the public debt back to the virtuous values of the EU. The "True Finns" instead express openly anti-migrant and Eurosceptic positions , starting with the request not to respect the commitment for climate neutrality in 2035, without denying the old long-term goal of "Fixit", the exit of Finland from the European Union.

(Unioneonline/D)

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