Finland’s left-wing PM loses poll as country prepares to join NATO

Helsinki, April 3

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Finnish voters have given a boost to conservative parties in a weekend election, depriving left-wing Prime Minister Sanna Marin of another term as the country prepares to make its historic entry into NATO on Tuesday, marking the completion of a swift journey into the military alliance for the Nordic nation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, officials said.

Finland has a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, meaning NATO’s frontier with Russia will roughly double in length, and the move drew a pledge from Moscow that it will beef up its forces in border regions. “Tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st member of NATO making Finland safer and our alliance stronger,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels, hailing the move as “historic”.

The centre-right National Coalition Party, or NCP, won 20.8 per cent of the vote, which is more than any other party and puts it in a position to try to form a government. The right-wing populist party The Finns won 20.1 per cent and Marin’s Social Democrats 19.9 per cent. — AP