The Ministry of Justice will soon arrange briefings to political parties to help them cope with outside attempts to affect domestic opinions, media reported on Friday.

To ensure that sensitive issues can also be talked about, the briefings will be arranged partially separately for each party.

Finland will have a general election in April followed by the European Parliament election in May.

Arto Jaaskelainen, the national election director, told a Swedish language newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet (HBL) that he is sure "something will happen" also in Finland. "But it is our task to ensure that attempts will not impact the election result."

The material used in the instructions will not be published. "It is only for the parties and their candidates," Jaaskelainen said.

The election director rejected the view that some parties in Finland would be particularly subject to outside influence.

HBL noted that after the general election in Sweden last autumn, several alleged attempts were reported.

The Swedish Security Police said later that good preparations had worked as a counter measure. Politicians had been told to be on guard and not to spread false information, HBL noted.