(CN) — Sanna Marin, Finland's center-left millennial prime minister who became an international star during a tenure that saw her push Finland toward NATO, was ousted from power on Sunday after voters rallied behind right-wing political forces.
Marin's Social Democrats came in third in the nail-biter election that saw the center-right National Coalition Party win with 20.8% of the vote. The anti-immigration, nationalist and far-right Finns Party edged the Social Democrats with 20.1% of the vote. The Social Democrats picked up 19.9% of the ballots.
Petteri Orpo, the leader of the National Coalition Party, is expected to take over as prime minister after he forms a new coalition government. He may seek to govern with the Finns along with smaller parties.
Orpo, a 53-year-old former finance minister, has vowed to keep supporting Ukraine and to back Finland's participation in NATO. Finland will officially join the Western military alliance on Tuesday, an extraordinary change for a country that shares a long border with Russia and remained neutral during the Cold War. About 80% of Finns now want to join NATO, a shift reflecting an explosion of fear in Finland over the threat of a Russian invasion following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
“First to Ukraine: we stand by you, with you,” Orpo told the Associated Press at a victory event. “We cannot accept this terrible war. And we will do all that is needed to help Ukraine, Ukrainian people because they fight for us. This is clear.”
Marin lost the election over economic issues with her left-wing prescriptions for Finland's stagnant economy, including taxing high earners and eschewing welfare cuts, falling flat. Orpo pledged cuts to welfare to balance the budget. Finland is known for its generous welfare system.
Marin became the world's youngest prime minister when she was sworn in at the age of 34 at the end of 2019. She ran a left-wing coalition along with several other female leaders from smaller parties.
She was presented as a model progressive leader on the international stage as she was invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, graced the cover of Time magazine and landed on the lists of the most influential leaders.
She spoke out against gender stereotypes, advocated a six-hour work day, won praise for imposing strict coronavirus restrictions and pushed to make Finland a leader on combating climate change. After Russia invaded Ukraine, she quickly took a harsh line against the Kremlin and led the push for Finland to join NATO.
While she was viewed by many as a young and cool prime minister, the emergence of videos last year showing her dancing at a night club and appearing to party with abandon eroded confidence in her leadership. Accusations that she was drunk and took drugs swirled around her, forcing her to even take a drug test to prove she hadn't taken narcotics.
Economic problems following the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, concerns over growing public debt, heavy government borrowing and frustration with her policies among rural voters helped propel Finland's conservatives and nationalists to victory.
Orpo has said he will focus on stimulating the economy through cuts to social spending, economic proposals that are not expected to cause friction with his likely coalition partners, the Finns.
On Monday, Riikka Purra, the leader of the Finns, told the Helsingin Sanomat, a major Finnish newspaper, that she was ready to join a coalition with Orpo, though she insisted a major hurdle will be over the question of immigration. The Finns are pushing for heavy restrictions on immigration from outside the European Union, a position at odds with the business-friendly National Coalition.
The Finns, similar to other far-right movements within the EU, want Finland to leave the EU, but the party is not expected to make that a point of contention during coalition talks.
The Finns were part of a coalition government in 2015 after winning 17.7% of the vote. This election was their best result yet.
A similar far-right, ant-immigration and nationalist party, the Sweden Democrats, has become a major force in neighboring Sweden and it is now part of a ruling right-wing bloc in Stockholm after becoming the country's second-largest party in September elections last year.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
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