Social Democrats, populists top Finland election vote

HELSINKI — Finland’s Social Democratic Party won the most votes in the country’s parliamentary election Sunday, trailed closely by a populist party that campaigned on ensuring the government does not overdo its efforts to combat climate change.

A near complete vote count late Sunday gave the Social Democrats 40 seats in Finland’s 200-member parliament, and the euroskeptic, anti-immigration Finns Party 39 seats. The election was watched for signs of how a populist bloc might do in next month’s European Parliament elections.

The Finns Party is part of an alliance of populist parties that aims to become the strongest faction in the European Union legislature and to radically transform EU policies on migration, security, family and environment.

“I have to make a honest confession: I hoped still for a better result,” Social Democratic Party leader Antti Rinne, a former finance minister and union leader, said at an election night party in central Helsinki. “Let us, my friends, take the Finnish society toward sustainable climate, social and economic policies.”

The near-complete tally from Sunday’s election gave the conservative National Coalition Party 37 seats and outgoing Prime Minister Juha Sipila’s Center Party 31.

The Center Party lost more support than any other party compared to Finland’s last election in 2015, apparently punished by voters for failing while in government to push through an ambitious health care and social care reform plan.

Finnish Institute of International Affairs program director Mika Aaltola said voters putting their support behind comparative political upstarts produced “a historic result” in Finland that reflects disenchantment with mainstream politics across Europe.

“Support for the three traditional established parties has been down for years. The political center is weakening, which is an overall European phenomenon,” Aaltola wrote on Twitter.

The election followed a campaign in which concerns about climate change even overshadowed the issue of how to reform the nation’s generous welfare model.

Finland, a European Union member of 5.5 million people, has one-third of its territory above the Arctic Circle. Most political parties support government actions to curb global warming.