Kokoomus narrowly wins parliamentary polls with 48 seats

The centre-right Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) narrowly led in the parliamentary polls held on Sunday bagging 48 seats, just two seats higher than its nearest competitor radical right Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party).

Ruling Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) secured third place in the close race election with 43 seats followed by the components of the five-party alliance government Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland) 23 seats, Vihreä Liitto (Green League) 13 seats, Vasemmistoliito (Left Alliance) 11 seats and Suomenruotsalainenkansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party of Finland-RKP) nine seats while SuomenKristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats of Finland) bagged five seats, Liike Nyt (Movement Now) one and independent candidate one in the 200-seat parliament.

The number of seats of Kokoomus increased by 10 from the previous parliamentary elections while Perussuomalaiset saw an increase of seven seats.

Although the number of seats of SDP increased by three from the last elections, the Keskusta, Vihreät and Vasemmistoliito experienced a massive debacle in the poll result this year.

The seats of Keskusta, Vihreät and Vasemmistoliito were reduced by eight, seven and five respectively compared to the previous election.

According to the preliminary results, a total of 30, 92418 votes were cast in the elections, which is 71.9 percent of the total votes.

Out of the votes 1749489 were cast in advance during the advance ballot from March 22 to March 28 while 1342929 votes were cast on the election day.

Some 16119 votes, however, were rejected on various grounds, sources at the Ministry of Justice said.

Kokoomus bagged 643877 votes, which is 20.8 of the total votes, followed by, Perussuomalaiset 620102 (20.1%), SDP 616218 (19.9%), Keskusta 349362 (11.3%), Vasemmistoliito 218290 (7.1%), Vihreät 217426 (7%), RKP 133318 (4.3%), SuomenKristillisdemokraatit 131368 (4.2%) and Liike Nyt 74962 (2.4%) votes.

The Liberal Party - Freedom to choose, Pirate Party of Finland, Animal Justice Party of Finland, The Feminist Party, Kansalaisliitto, Finnish Reform Movement, Finnish Nation First, The Open Party, The Communist Party of Finland, Crystal Party, Valta kuuluu kansalle, Vapauden liitto and Sinimusta Liike also participated in the elections but did not get any seat.

A total of 2424 candidates from 13 electoral districts in the country contested the polls.

Twenty-three lawmakers were elected from Helsinki electoral district, 37 from Uusimaa, 17 from Varsinais-Suomi, 8 from Satakunta, 14 from Häme, 20 from Pirkanmaa , 15 from Southeast, 15 Savo-Karelia, 16 from Vaasa, 10 from Central Finland, 18 from Oulu, six from Lapland and 1 from Åland electoral district.

Expressing reaction over the polls result, Kokoomus Chair Petteri Orpo termed the victory important for the party, and he was confident that the new government would be formed under his leadership.

He also said that the new government will fix the country's economy on priority basis.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin, also Chair of the SDP congratulated the Kokoomus and Perussuomalaiset for their victories in the elections.

The Premier, also expressed satisfaction over the performance of her party.

The final results of the election will be published officially on Wednesday.