Opposition Wins Finnish Election

The horsetrading will soon begin in Helsinki when Anneli Jäätteenmäki's Center Party tries to form a government. The former agrarian party won a razor-thin majority, 24.7 percent, in Finnish elections on Sunday, while outgoing Prime Minster Paavo Lipponen's Social Democrats received 24.5 percent of the vote.

"I think the Finnish people wanted an alternative. I feel very happy," Jäätteenmäki told the news agency Reuters after the results were announced.

First female prime minister?

The 48-year-old lawyer and former justice minister could become the country's first female prime minister, joining Finland's first female president, Tarja Halonen, in leading the country.

But it's not a foregone conclusion that she will.

Jäätteenmäki's win was by no means dramatic. Although the Center Party won 55 of the 200 parliamentary seats, the governing Social Democrats' actually gained two mandates -- up to 53 -- in the Eduskunta, Finland's parliament.

During the campaign leading up to the election, the parties focused on their main personalities -- Jäätteenmäki and Lipponen (photo). Jäätteenmäki promised more money for education and the health system and criticized Prime Minister Lipponen for not taking a more active role in promoting a peaceful resolution to the Iraq crisis.

Lipponen tried to woo voters by highlighting the accomplishments of his government's eight years in office. The "rainbow" coalition Social Democrats, Conservative Party, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party managed to cut unemployment in half, lower taxes and profit from an economic boom in the Nordic country.

The big loser in the election was the Conservative Party, which lost six seats in parliament, leaving it in third place with 40 mandates.

Helsinki horsetrading

Because the Center Party won the most votes, it has the prerogative of attempting to form a government. Jäätteenmäki, though, may have difficulty finding coalition partners. She said she was prepared to cooperate with the Social Democrats. But they may not want to cooperate with her.

Both Social Democrat Lipponen and Conservative Party leader Ville Itala have said they will not be part of a Center Party government. Lipponen warned before the election that Jäätteenmäki's party could upset his strict budget discipline if it took charge of the country.

The four rainbow coalition partners could even try to freeze out the Center Party and continue with their current government.

The reconstituted Eduskunta will meet on March 26. One of the government's main tasks will be to fight unemployment. In 2002 it stood at 9.1 percent, the highest level in the European Union.

At least 69.6 percent of Finland's 4.2 million voters cast ballots in the election, slightly more than in 1999, when 68.3 percent of the country's voters went to the polls. But overall participation has dropped steadily since the 1960s, when 86 percent of Finns turned out for elections.