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The election in Finland  

The leader of the coalition party: "It was a great victory"  

The election in Finland is a real shocker. According to Yle's forecast, the liberal-conservative Samlingsparty will be the largest in the election with an estimated support of 20.9 percent. The right-wing populist Sannfinländarna is on 20.6 percent and Sanna Marins on the Social Democrats 19.5 percent. 

In a speech, the Samlingspartiet party leader Petteri Orpo says that it was "a great victory".  

- Our political goal was to get politics in order. This message has gone through. The support is there and the Finns believe in the Unity Party, he says.  

To Yle, he says that the government parties have lost support, except for the SDP, and that he wants to start government negotiations with the economy as the core issue.  

The fourth largest party is the Center, which looks set to get 11.2 percent, a loss of 2.6 percentage points. According to the forecast, the Greens get 7.3 percent, which would be a drop of over 4 percentage points.  

Yle's forecast is generally considered to reflect the election result well. According to experts, the Riksdag election was a so-called "prime ministerial election".  

The party that receives the most mandates is traditionally tasked with forming a government.  

 

Sanna Marin Sergei Grits / AP 

Sanna Marin admits defeat in the election: "Democracy has spoken" 

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin admits defeat, writes Reuters. Her social democratic SDP became the third largest party after the Collection Party and the True Finns.  

She congratulates the Samlingspartiet on the victory.  

- Democracy has spoken, the Finnish people have cast their vote, and the celebration of democracy is always a wonderful thing. We have reason to be happy about this result, she says.  

The Coalition Party's Petteri Orpo has announced that he intends to start government negotiations.