Orpo continues talks with parties separately to choose allies for govt

Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) leader Petteri Orpo will continue to hold meetings with the political parties separately on Monday and Tuesday to choose the suitable possible partners for holding formal talks with the view to form the next government.

The Kokoomus leader already held meeting with the Vasemmistoliito (Left Alliance) on Friday, although the parties did not find common views on the key issues to form the possible next government.

Chairperson of Vasemmistoliito Li Andersson, also the Education Minister of the outgoing government said after the meeting that they discussed about education and economic policy but their views were different.

Andersson also said that the possibility of her party to join the upcoming government is very thin, if the Kokoomus remains strict on massive budget cut.

Orpo will continue to hold separate meetings with the Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP), radical right Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party), Vihreä Liitto (Green League), Suomenruotsalainenkansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party of Finland-RKP) and SuomenKristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats of Finland) on Monday and Tuesday.

After the meetings with the political parties individually, Orpo will chose the possible allies to hold official talks scheduled to start on May 2 at the House of the Estates in Helsinki's Kruununhaka neighbourhood.

The Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland) already decided not to join the upcoming government and play its role in the parliament as an opposition party.

Earlier on April 18, political parties replied to the queries given on April 14 by Petteri Orpo.

The parliamentary groups on April 14 selected Orpo to lead the preliminary discussions to form a new government and Orpo gave the parliamentary groups of the major political parties 24 questions.

Kokoomus narrowly led in the parliamentary polls held on April 2 bagging 48 seats, just two seats higher than its nearest competitor radical right Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party).

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.