The Finns will vote on Sunday to elect 200 deputies who will form a new government. There is no electoral threshold for a party to enter Finland’s parliament, but it must receive a minimum of 2% of the votes to benefit from treasury aid. A total of 2,424 candidates from 22 political parties are vying for the seats in Eduskunta, the Nordic country’s unicameral legislature. Every Finnish citizen aged 18 or more can cast a vote. Around 2,000 polling stations have been set up, which will be open between 9 a.m. (0600GMT) and 8 p.m. (1700GMT) local time. The country has been divided into 13 electoral districts, and the number of representatives elected from each district will be in proportion to the district’s population. Confirmation of the parliamentary elections results will be announced on Wednesday. The current government is led by Social Democratic Party’s Sanna Marin, who is the prime minister, and four other parties – the Centre Party, Green League, Left Alliance and Swedish People’s Party. There are 19 ministers. While the Social Democrats Party got seven ministerial portfolios after the 2019 polls, the coalition’s second biggest partner, Center Party, has five ministers. Its 39-year-old leader Annika Saarikko has been serving as the finance minister since May 2021. The Green League, whose leader is Maria Ohisalo and who served as the interior minister from 2019-2021, has three ministerial posts. Left Alliance leader Li Andersson, meanwhile, serves as the country’s education minister. The party has two ministers in the cabinet, just like the Swedish People’s Party.
Source: Anadolu Agency