HELSINKI: Conservative politician Petteri Orpo, who won Finland’s general election in April, said Thursday that he was forming a coalition government that would include the far-right runner-up Finns Party.
The far-right inclusion in talks raises the possibility that the anti-immigration party, which received just over 20% of the vote, could join a ruling coalition for the second time. Formal negotiations would start on 2 May between Orpo’s National Coalition Party, the Swedish People’s Party, the Finns Party, and the Christian Democrats, Orpo told journalists.
The dialogues, which typically take nearly a month, are likely to be difficult, as the Finns Party’s hard stance on immigration and skepticism towards the country’s climate targets has caused differences among the right-wing parties.
If he succeeds in forming a government program supported by all 4 parties, the coalition will secure 108 seats out of 200 in Parliament.
In March, the leader of the Swedish People’s Party, Anna-Maja Henriksson, said her party would not become a part of a government that pursues the policies of the Finns Party, stressing the importance of attracting labor migrants into the country.
As other political parties view immigration as a solution to the country’s aging populace, the Finns Party has adopted a more stringent stance.
It attributes the increasing rate of juvenile crime to migrants and has actively campaigned against the trend of immigration.
Immigration in Finland
Finns Party leader Riikka Purra said on Thursday that immigration that was a threat to both economy and security was an important topic for her party, but noted that they are not opposed to all forms of immigration.
The Finns Party was part of a center-right government with the National Coalition between 2015 and 2017 but that collaboration ended when the Finns Party split into 2 groups — a hard-liner and a moderate faction.
Currently, only the hard-liner members remain in parliament, having secured the position of the second-largest political party in the 2019 election. The Finns Party’s aims include a long-term goal of exiting the European Union (EU) and postponing the country’s aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035.
