In Finland Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) is under increasing pressure. He has been accused of financial impropriety dating back to the 1990s, when he, allegedly, received a “shipment of wood free of charge” (Helsinki Times). According to the report, “a nationwide construction company had sent the supplies in the hope of winning further deals with the Youth Foundation, a charity that Mr Vanhanen chaired before becoming prime minister in 2003”.

Partly related, there were two votes of confidence last week. On 30 September the government easily survived a motion of no-confidence lodged by the opposition about old people’s care. The government majority was 111 votes to 64. Then, on 1 October Prime Minister Vanhanen won a vote of confidence on election funding. Fruits and Votes quotes AP reporting that 117 voted in favour of the government, 27 voted against and there were 56 abstentions.

Motions of confidence/no-confidence are not wholly unusual in Finland, at least not at the moment. In the spring session, there were two other motions of no-confidence, one on a plan to increase the retirement age and another on the employment situation.

On 6 September 2009 municipal elections from 2008 were re-run in three areas – Vihti, Karkkila, and Kauniainen. The results are available at the Ministry of Justice website. Compared with 2008, the results in general showed a slight slippage in support (about 1%) for the centre-right parties that comprise the government, though the Social Democrats did not make gains. Small increases went to the small leftist parties, the Greens, the Swedish People’s Party, and the True Finns. Turnout was 64% in Kauniainen, but only 46% and 42% in Karkkila and Vihti respectively.