Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin conceded Sunday after losing to the opposition right-wing National Coalition Party in a tightly contested parliamentary election.
The pro-business NCP was expected to clinch 48 of the 200 seats in parliament, just ahead of the nationalist Finns Party with 46 seats.
Marin’s Social Democrats garnered 43 seats, according to justice ministry election data that showed all ballots were counted.
“We got the biggest mandate,” NCP leader Petteri Orpo said in a speech as he vowed to fix Finland and its economy.
He will get the first chance to form a coalition to obtain a majority in parliament with Marin’s era expected to end.
“We have gained support, we have gained more seats (in parliament),” the 37-year-old Marin told supporters. “That’s an excellent achievement, even if we did not finish first today.”
Marin, the world’s youngest prime minister when she took office in 2019, has faced criticism for her partying and her government’s big spending.
She remained popular among many Finns, especially young moderates, and was looked at as a millennial role model of new progressive leaders around the world.
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She received criticism from some conservatives though with the way she spent on pensions and education that they argued was not frugal enough.
The NCP led in polls for the last two years but its lead shrunk in recent months.
It called for less spending and to stop the increase of public debt that reached just over 70% of the GDP since Marin began her term.
Orpo assailed Marin for eroding Finland’s economic resilience as Europe faces an energy crisis in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
One of Marin’s foreign policy goals has been her insistence that the country seek NATO membership following Russia’s actions.
The process is almost done with the country expected to join within days after NATO members approve it.
With Post wires
