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Finnish centre-right leader ousts 'rock star' Marin in election victory
"This was a great victory," the 53-year-old head of the conservative National Coalition Party, Petteri Orpo, told his cheering supporters.
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Prime minister of Finland Sanna Marin holds a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, on August 19, 2022, after videos showing her partying and leaked into social media have sparked criticism. Finland's prime minister said on August 19, 2022 she had taken a drug test and reiterated she had never taken narcotics, after a video of the 36-year-old partying sparked criticism.
(AFP/Roni Rekomaa)
F
inland's centre-right leader claimed victory in Sunday's tight general election that saw the far-right post a record score to come in second, as Prime Minister Sanna Marin's Social Democrats finished third.
"This was a great victory," the 53-year-old head of the conservative National Coalition Party, Petteri Orpo, told his cheering supporters.
"On the basis of this election result ... we will start negotiating a government in Finland," he said.
Orpo could choose to build a government either with the far-right Finns Party or the Social Democrats, though he is at odds with both on various issues.
With 99 percent of votes counted, the centre-right was credited with 48 of the 200 seats in parliament, the far-right with 46 and the Social Democrats with 43.
In terms of votes, the result was even closer with the centre-right winning 20.6 percent, the far-right 20.1 percent and the Social Democrats 19.9 percent.
The biggest party in parliament traditionally gets the first chance to build a government, and since the 1990s that party has always claimed the prime minister's office.
