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Finnish Social Democrat leader Antti Rinne claimed a tight victory in the parliamentary elections on Sunday, which would see them get ahead of the True Finns (far right). " For the first time since 1999, the Social Democrats are the prime minister's party ," Rinne told the activists.
According to results on more than 99% of the ballots, the Social Democrats would get 40 seats out of 200 in Parliament, the True Finns 39. The Center Party of outgoing Prime Minister Juha Sipilä is relegated to fourth place.
After the final results expected later this evening, the Social Democrats could sign their return to the political scene, four years after their failure in the 2015 elections where the party finished fourth.
Mr Rinne has already said he wants to form a government "before the end of May". " We want to restore the trust of the Finnish people (...) we will do it in cooperation with many other parties, " he told Finnish public television.
However, he kept all his options open to the True Finns: " I want to say that I do not want to speculate on this issue, " he said. The party was last in the legislative elections in 1999. Paavo Lipponen led a left-right coalition until 2003.
Since then, the Social Democrats have participated in several governments, but have not taken the lead.
They campaigned against the austerity policy led by the outgoing governing coalition of the Center, the National Coalition Party (right) and the Blue Reform Party (eurosceptic), which brought the country out of recession. 2016.
(With AFP)