Finland held its parliamentary election on Sunday. The turnout was 70.4%. Here is the result:

National Coalition Party, 20.4%, 44 seats (-6)
Social Democratic Party, 19.1%, 42 seats (-3)
True Finns, 19.0%, 39 seats (+34)
Centre Party, 15.8%, 35 seats (-16)
Left Alliance, 8.1%, 14 seats (-3)
Green League, 7.2%, 10 seats (-5)
Christian Democrats, 4.0%, 6 seats (-1)
Swedish People’s Party, 4.3%, 9 seats (no change)
Åland, 1 seat (no change)

The incumbent PM is Mari Kiviniemi from the Centre Party. The Centre Party is in coalition with the National Coalition Party, the Swedish People’s Party and the Green League. The Centre Party is the big loser in the election.

By contrast, the big winner, as expected, is the True Finns party, a national populist party. That said, it is possible that it will not be in government, because its views are seen as being too extreme.

The other winner was the National Coalition Party, which became the largest party in the country for the first time ever. This means that the party leader, Jyrki Katainen, is likely to be given the first chance to form a government. There is some talk of a ‘grand’ coalition with the Social Democratic Party. However, this would be a minority administration.