Kaikkonen elected Chair of Keskusta, Orpo made Kokoomus Chief again

The second largest opposition party in the parliament Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland) on Saturday elected former Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen as its Chairperson while the ruling Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) re-elected Prime Minister Petteri Orpo as its Chair.

Kaikkonen has been elected the new chairperson of Keskusta at a party council held in Jyväskylä beating another aspirant Tuomas Kettunen, a lawmaker from Oulu by 1368 votes to 308.

The party also elected Hilkka Kemppi, Tuomas Kettunen and Markus Lohi as vice-chairmen and Antti Siika-aho as secretary in the council.

Kemppi bagged 1350 votes, Kettunen 955 votes and Lohi 892 in the elections.

Other aspirants who contested for the Vice-Chairpersons were Petri Roininen (558 votes), Vesa Kallio (502 votes), Joonas Könttä (429 votes) and PäiviMononen-Mikkilä (321 votes).

Siika-aho was re-elected as secretary unopposed.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo was re-elected as Kokoomus Chair unopposed at the two-day party council began in Tampere on Saturday for the fifth consecutive term.

Orpo has been serving as the party Chairperson since 2016.

The Kokoomus will elect its Vice-Chairs on Sunday, on the concluding day of the council.