Helsinki (EFE) – The polling stations in Finland opened their doors this Sunday at 09:00 local time (06:00 GMT) for voters to elect the 200 deputies who will make up the next Eduskunta (unicameral Parliament of Helsinki).
In these elections, around 4.5 million Finns are called to the polls, who will be able to exercise their right to vote in the thirteen districts into which the country is divided until 8:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. GMT).
According to the most recent poll, published on Thursday by national YLE television, the two opposition parties, the conservative Kokoomus and the far-right True Finns, are virtually tied with almost 20% of the vote each.
They are closely followed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) led by the Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, who would remain in third position with 18.7% of the vote, despite improving the results obtained in the 2019 elections by one point.
However, given that the poll’s margin of error is 2% and that almost a third of those polled did not reveal their vote, extremely close elections are expected in which either party could claim final victory.
This survey confirms the progressive loss of support from the conservatives, who just three months ago were ahead of their then main rival (the SDP) by more than five points, and the advance of the extreme right, which could win parliamentary elections for the first time in Finnish history.
They also predict a real debacle for the Center Party, the SDP’s main partner in the government coalition, which with 10.7% would reap the worst result in its history.
The fifth party in the country and third government partner, Los Verdes, would lose 2.5 points and would have to settle for 9% of the votes.
More than 1.7 million voters, equivalent to 40.5% of the total census, voted early last week, using a system implemented in 1970 to favor participation.
These ballots, plus the postal vote from abroad, will be scrutinized throughout the day and their results will be published shortly after the schools close.
The electoral authorities calculate that the computation of all the votes will be available before midnight local time (21:00 GMT).
