Rinne announces to form 19-member cabinet

Prime Minister-designate and leader of the Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) Antti Rinne on Monday announced that there will be 19 ministers in the new cabinet of the centre-left alliance government.

SDP will hold seven ministerial portfolios, followed by Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland) five, Vihreät (Green League) three, and Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) and Suomenruotsalainenkansanpuolue (Swedish People's Party of Finland-RKP) two each, he told a joint press conference held at the Helsinki main library in presence of leaders of Keskusta, Vihreäliitto, Vasemmistoliitto and RKP.

The SDP received the ministerial portfolios of the prime minister (Prime Minister’s Office), minister for European affairs (Prime Minister’s Office), minister of local government and ownership steering (Ministry of Finance), minister for foreign trade and development (Ministry for Foreign Affairs), minister of family affairs and social services (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health), minister of transport (Ministry of Transport and Communications), and minister of employment (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment), said an official press release.

The portfolios allotted to Keskusta are the finance minister (Ministry of Finance), minister of science and culture (Ministry of Education and Culture), economic affairs minister (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment), defence minister (Ministry of Defence), and agriculture and forestry minister (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry).

The Vihreäliitto ministers are the foreign minister (Ministry for Foreign Affairs), minister of the environment and climate change (Ministry of the Environment), and interior minister (Ministry of the Interior).

Vasemmistoliitto has received the portfolios of the education minister (Ministry of Education and Culture) and the social affairs and health minister (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health) and RKP got those of minister of justice (Ministry of Justice) and minister for Nordic cooperation and equality.

The names of the ministers will be finalised by the parties on Tuesday.

The ministers will most likely include the party chairs excepting the outgoing prime minister and Keskusta Chair Juha Sipilä, reported the national broadcaster Yle.

"I led my own party to a major electoral defeat, so I am not available for a position of responsibility, not as a minister or speaker of parliament. This is my way of taking responsibility in this situation," Yle quoted Sipilä as saying.

The SDP emerged as the largest party in parliament following the April 14 general election with 40 seats out of the total 200.

It was followed narrowly by the populist Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) with 39 seats and the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party) with 38 seats. Suomen Keskusta won 31 seats, Vihreäliitto 20, Vasemmistoliito 16, RKP nine, SuomenKristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats of Finland) five, and others bagged two seats.