Is Sanna Marin still prime minister? Why did Sanna Marin lose?

In a hotly contested election between three major parties, Finland’s conservative leader Petteri Orpo won. In a thrilling election night, he beat the center-left party headed by Prime Minister Sanna Marin.

The right-wing populist party came in second with a record 20.1% of the vote, while Orpo’s National Coalition Party received 20.8% of the vote. Marin was bitterly disappointed because she had increased the number of seats for her party and received 19.9% of the vote.

Notwithstanding this setback, Marin has received great marks for how she handled the COVID-19 pandemic and Finland’s NATO membership.

After the triumph of the conservative candidate, Marin graciously congratulated Orpo’s National Coalition Party and the Finns Party, which finished second in the popular vote.

The three parties had been virtually tied in the polls for weeks before the election, which made the race extremely close. It became impossible to predict as the results poured in.

The National Coalition Party of Orpo, however, was ultimately named the victor with the most seats in parliament, according to a projection from public broadcaster YLE.

Why did Sanna Marin lose?

The leaked video of Sanna Marin, the prime minister of Finland, dancing and the accompanying drug test had little bearing on the election campaign. Even while it received global publicity, it had little effect on voters’ decisions; instead, it highlighted the divisions between her fans and detractors.

In Finland, a governing party rarely manages to improve its vote percentage, but Marin’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) fared reasonably well. The smaller left-leaning parties’ support fell, while the National Coalition Party (NCP) and the right-wing populist Finns Party increased their total number of seats in the 200-seat parliament to 17.

The topic of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which prompted Finland to join NATO, did not come up during the election campaign.

Instead, the right-wing parties were effective in exploiting public anxiety over Finland’s rising national debt and convincing voters that social services needed to be slashed in order to balance the budget.

Marin and the SDP, therefore, leaned left to maintain their support, but after the pandemic and the war, the economics became a significant issue.