Finnish voters have elected their Parliament on Sunday, 19 April. The Centre Party won 24.5% of the votes, followed by the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party. As negotiations for a governing coalition will soon begin, check our grid overview of the main six parties and their climate and energy policies.
The Centre Party will lead negotiations to form a new government
The liberal agrarian Centre Party, led by Juha Sipilä won 49 out of the 200 seats of the Parliament (35, in 2011), according to the national broadcaster Yle. A businessman with background in bioenergy and telecommunications, Sipilä will be appointed by the Parliament to start negotiations for a new government on Thursday, 30 April.
On Sunday night, Sipilä named the three essential conditions for the future coalition: mutual trust among governing parties, the content of the programmes and the results of the elections, wrote the Helsingin Sanomat.
The options for a majority coalition
Judging by the results, an important player in the new government could be the eurosceptic Finns Party (38 places), led by Timo Soini.
Alexander Stubb‘s National Coalition Party (37 seats) could join the Centre Party and the Finns Party in a centre-right coalition. A Centre party senior official said that: “The most natural coalition would be with Stubb and Soini,” as quoted by the Financial Times.
Another option could be a centre coalition, led by the Centre Party, along with the Finns and the Social Democrats (34 seats).
Considering that whatever combination of three of the top four parties would form a majority in the Parliament, it is hard to say at the moment what role will the Greens Party (15 seats) and the Left Alliance (12 seats) have.
What future climate and energy policies for Finland?
All parties seem to agree that the way forward for Finland and its economic health is the development of innovative clean technologies. If you want to know more about what the different parties have in common or not when it comes to climate and energy policies, see the table below:
Finland’s current climate and energy policies:
- Climate Act, a pledge for 80% GHG emissions reduction by 2050. Read more.
- Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) – 38% share in final gross consumption by 2020.
- Energy Efficiency Action Plan – 17.8 TWh energy savings by 2016.
- Market Stability Reserve – 2021 start and no direct transfer for backloaded allowances. Read more.
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