Finns head to voting booths in election that could shift power

HELSINKI — Finns are voting today in an election that could put the Social Democrats in a position to grab the premiership for the first time in 16 years.

Led by former trade unionist Antti Rinne, the party is topping the polls ahead of the ruling Center and National Coalition parties and as well a the antiimmigrant Finns Party. Voting closes at 8 p.m. today. While there are no exit polls, results from advance votes will be revealed as the voting booths close, giving a good indication of where things are heading.

Rinne, 56, has emerged as the favourite after four years of centre-right rule that included austerity measures to get the nation’s finances back on its feet. The Center Party of Prime Minister Juha Sipila and his partner, the National Coalition, are also being punished for a failure to pass a health-care reform after a decade of wrangling and a scandal involving neglect at private seniors care homes.

The current government has “wasted money on the social and health-care reform and left elderly care in the state it’s currently in,” said Elisabet Parviainen, 69, a pensioner in Helsinki. “What really frustrates me is that we have money, but it’s spent recklessly.”

A split political landscape means the coalition building after today’s election is up in the air. The populist Finns Party has seen its support surge during the campaign, but most parties shun the group because of its strident nationalist agenda.

About a third of the country’s nearly 4.3 million eligible voters have already cast their ballots.

The most likely outcome is a Social Democrat-led coalition supported by the centre-right National Coalition of Finance Minister Petteri Orpo, the Greens and the Swedish People’s Party, a group representing Finland’s linguistic minority.

The Social Democrats are pushing for spending increases, especially in education and higher taxes. The party will need to square that with slowing economic growth and the need to creat new jobs to balance the impact of an aging population on public finances.