Majority of Finns unhappy with 4-party alliance govt: Survey

Majority of Finnish people were found dissatisfied with the performance of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo led four-party alliance government, according to a survey.

The survey commissioned by a Finnish language newspaper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus showed that 62 percent of the country people were dissatisfied with the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) led alliance government, which took over country power on June 20 this year.

Three other components of the government are radical rightist Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party), Suomenruotsalainenkansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party of Finland-RKP) and SuomenKristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats of Finland-CD).

About 25 percent people, however, expressed their satisfaction over the role of the government.

A Survey organization Kantar Agri conducted the survey by interviewing 1100 people in early this month and the margin error is three percentage points in both directions.

The government faced difficulty at the very early stage of its inception when a Perussuomalaiset leader and Minister of Economic Affairs Vilhelm Junnila decided on June 30 to resign following the controversy raised over his links to far-right groups.

Another leader and Interior Minister Mari Rantanen faced strong criticism for her social media post related to far-right ideology and immigration.

The situation turned into worsen when Perussuomalaiset Chairperson Riikka Purra came under fire following widespread controversy raised over racial, apparently violent and anti-immigrant comments made in guise of an identity of ´riikka´ in 2008 on a blog hosted by former Chairperson of her party Jussi Halla-aho, also Speaker of the present parliament.

On July 11, Purra admitted that she made the controversial remarks on the Scripta blog 15 years ago in guise of a username "riikka" and apologised for the racial, violent and anti-immigrant comments.

Another minister of Perussuomalaiset Wille Rydman faced criticism in late July following the discovery of his racist remarks made in 2016.