Finnish parliamentary election – 14 April 2019

[Helsinkian]

This map by YLE shows largest party by precinct (left), 2nd largest (middle) and third largest (right).


https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10733264 (zoomable maps by municipality (kunnittain) and precinct (äänestysalueittain))

SDP = red
Finns Party = sky blue
NCP = dark blue
Centre = dark green
Greens = lime green
Left Alliance = maroon
SPP = yellow
CD = purple
Åland = grey

[Helsinkian]

Sipilä has resigned as Centre Party's leader. Centre intends to go to opposition (they might of course backtrack on that later in the coming weeks).

The government negotiations probably won't be finished until after the European Parliament election; if a party has to make tough compromises in the coalition agreement they won't want it published just prior to the EP election.

[😥]

Which coalition is more likely to be? I think is SDP+KOK+GL+SPP

[Helsinkian]

Which coalition is more likely to be? I think is SDP+KOK+GL+SPP

That would be my bet.

[rob in cal]

 If the Finns Party had won 1st place with SDP right behind them would the SDP still be expected to lead the next government?

[Sestak]

If the Finns Party had won 1st place with SDP right behind them would the SDP still be expected to lead the next government?

If Finns were on 40 and SDP on 39, then probably, yeah. If it was any more than that, then it’d be more difficult to say due to more parties being needed, plus NCP would then be larger than SDP.

[rob in cal]

   Are any other parties at all close to working with the Finns Party, and what will it take for them to be politically acceptable to other parties like the FPO in Austria or the League in Italy, or DPP in Denmark.

[Walmart_shopper]

I liked this visualization.

The apparent polarization of Helsinki is amazing. I don't know if that's typical of European cities or not.

[Helsinkian]

This seems to be the final result of this count. Some votes still out there in Uusimaa, but unlikely to change seats. All counted now. The last seat in Lapland is currently with Centre but Greens are so closely behind that that may change in the confirmatory count early next week.

Social Democratic Party 40 seats (+6)
Finns Party 39 (+1)
National Coalition Party 38 (+1)
Centre Party 31 (-18)
Green League 20 (+5)
Left Alliance 16 (+4)
Swedish People's Party 9 (no change)
Christian Democrats 5 (no change)
Movement Now 1 (new)
Åland 1 (no change)

This result is now verified following the confirmatory count which brought no changes (apart from one SDP MP changing to another SDP MP). The Greens were only 9 votes short of getting a seat in Lapland.

The full results: https://vaalit.yle.fi/ev2019/en/parties

[Helsinkian]

There are 106 men and 94 women in the new parliament.

By party:

SDP: 17 men, 23 women
Finns Party: 27 men, 12 women
NCP: 22 men, 16 women
Centre: 21 men, 10 women
Greens: 3 men, 17 women
Left Alliance: 7 men, 9 women
SPP: 5 men, 4 women
CD: 2 men, 3 women
Movement Now: 1 man
Åland: 1 man

[Helsinkian]

Finns Party now has one gay MP, Sebastian Tynkkynen. A religious man, Tynkkynen was recently expelled from his pentecostal parish because of his sexual orientation.

When Soini was the party leader, he insisted that all the party's MPs vote against same-sex marriage and reprimanded the few who did not. Halla-aho, on the other hand, has said that the MPs would be free to vote how they want in such matters.

[Helsinkian]

The new SDP MP Hussein al-Taee (the only Muslim elected) has had to apologize for his old Facebook comments where he, for example, said that he "does not see a big difference between Israel and ISIS" and even suggested that the leader of ISIS was "trained by Mossad".

The comments are wildly at odds with the public image al-Taee has sought to present of himself (he has worked with the conflict resolution organisation founded by former President Martti Ahtisaari).

[Helsinkian]

Antti Rinne has now been officially tasked with forming a government and he has started the process by sending a set of questions to all parliamentary parties. He is expecting the parties to answer them by the month's end, after which he will choose the parties with which he wants to pursue further negotiations.

[DavidB.]

The new SDP MP Hussein al-Taee (the only Muslim elected) has had to apologize for his old Facebook comments where he, for example, said that he "does not see a big difference between Israel and ISIS" and even suggested that the leader of ISIS was "trained by Mossad".

The comments are wildly at odds with the public image al-Taee has sought to present of himself (he has worked with the conflict resolution organisation founded by former President Martti Ahtisaari).

What a surprise!

When Soini was the party leader, he insisted that all the party's MPs vote against same-sex marriage and reprimanded the few who did not. Halla-aho, on the other hand, has said that the MPs would be free to vote how they want in such matters.

Interesting. I would have thought Halla-aho is more conservative than Soini. What is the explanation?

[Helsinkian]

The new SDP MP Hussein al-Taee (the only Muslim elected) has had to apologize for his old Facebook comments where he, for example, said that he "does not see a big difference between Israel and ISIS" and even suggested that the leader of ISIS was "trained by Mossad".

The comments are wildly at odds with the public image al-Taee has sought to present of himself (he has worked with the conflict resolution organisation founded by former President Martti Ahtisaari).

What a surprise!

SDP has chosen the "it was in the past and he's said he's sorry" approach with al-Taee.

When Soini was the party leader, he insisted that all the party's MPs vote against same-sex marriage and reprimanded the few who did not. Halla-aho, on the other hand, has said that the MPs would be free to vote how they want in such matters.

Interesting. I would have thought Halla-aho is more conservative than Soini. What is the explanation?

Abortion and gay marriage are the two issues where Soini was the more conservative one. Halla-aho was not personally in favour of same-sex marriage either, but I think he now views that issue to be settled. Soini always stressed his religiosity in public, whereas Halla-aho is non-religious (in the past he's called himself an atheist or agnostic, but now I think he avoids specific terms and just says he's non-religious).

[Helsinkian]

The new SDP MP Hussein al-Taee (the only Muslim elected) has had to apologize for his old Facebook comments where he, for example, said that he "does not see a big difference between Israel and ISIS" and even suggested that the leader of ISIS was "trained by Mossad".

The comments are wildly at odds with the public image al-Taee has sought to present of himself (he has worked with the conflict resolution organisation founded by former President Martti Ahtisaari).

Now also in international news:

FINNISH MP UNDER FIRE FOR COMPARING ISRAEL TO ISIS

Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the head of the Jerusalem office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the Jerusalem Post on Sunday: “This guy [Hussein al-Taee] is obviously an antisemite.”

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/Finnish-MP-under-fire-for-comparing-Israel-to-ISIS-588084

[Aboa]

The aforementioned al-Taee has acknowledged and apologized for his earlier even more inflammatory facebook posts about Gays, Jews, Sunnis and Somalis among others. Until now he had tried to imply that the posts might have been doctored.

It's worth noting that al-Taee's father was/is prominent member of (Shia) Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

[mileslunn]

How close are they to forming a government and what parties are likely to be part of the coalition.  I presume the Social Democratic Party will supply the PM, but which other parties will be part of it.  I am guessing Greens will be maybe Left Alliance.  National Rally is possible for a more centrist one, but doubt Centre Party wants to be part of it and I think all parties promised to excluded Finns.

[Helsinkian]

How close are they to forming a government and what parties are likely to be part of the coalition.  I presume the Social Democratic Party will supply the PM, but which other parties will be part of it.  I am guessing Greens will be maybe Left Alliance.  National Rally is possible for a more centrist one, but doubt Centre Party wants to be part of it and I think all parties promised to excluded Finns.

Antti Rinne of SDP is expected to announce in a few days time which parties he wants to invite to the formal coalition negotiations. Centre Party listed ten preconditions which the coalition should agree to as their price of joining a new coalition; such a long list of preconditions from a party that lost 18 seats was interpreted as Centre signalling that they aren't willing to join a coalition without outright saying so.

[DavidB.]

The aforementioned al-Taee has acknowledged and apologized for his earlier even more inflammatory facebook posts about Gays, Jews, Sunnis and Somalis among others. Until now he had tried to imply that the posts might have been doctored.

I recall similar comments by Halla-aho. SDP-Finns coalition soon

[Helsinkian]

The new parliament is making changes to the parties' sitting arrangement in the plenary. Until now, the Finns Party had been seated in the centre of the plenary, while the Swedish People's Party had been seated furthest to the right. From now on, the Finns Party will be seated in the far-right of the plenary, while the SPP will be moved to the centre. Usually the parties try to achieve unanimity in these things but this time the change is being made in spite of the Finns Party's opposition to the move which they denounced as "bullying" by the other parties.

The previous seating arrangement had historical reasons: the Finns Party was seated next to the Centre Party because their predecessor (Finnish Rural Party) originated as a split from the Centre Party, while the Swedish People's Party was originally seated in the far-right because that allowed them to be close to the parliament's translators who were seated to the right of the Speaker.

[Ethelberth]

SMP used to be in right side of the plenary 1975-1983, before they were taken to Coalition between SDP-KESK and SFP 1983. Before that they used to sit in centre 1970-1975.

[FredLindq]

Were sid they sat when they were members of the KOK-SDP guvernment  (Holkeri).

[Ethelberth]

Were sid they sat when they were members of the KOK-SDP government  (Holkeri).

Between Centre and Greeens.

[Helsinkian]

There are whispers that Rinne might go for a SDP+Centre+Greens+Left+SPP coalition after all, instead of the SDP+NCP+Greens+SPP that many were expecting. Of course he could just be signalling to NCP that they are not his only option and thus can't expect to get everything they want. He will make an announcement on tuesday wednesday.