Popularity of Perussuomalaiset rises, SDP drops

The popularity of the ruling Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP), decreased significantly while the popularity of the oppositions Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) and the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) increased, according to the municipal election survey report released by the national broadcaster Yle on Thursday.

According to the survey findings, the popularity of the SDP, the biggest component of the five-party alliance government, declined by 1.5 per cent to 18%, resulting in demotion of the party to the third place from the first of the previous month.

The main opposition Perussuomalaiset ranked top in popularity with 19% support, marking a month-on-month increase of 0.3 per cent, followed by Kokoomus with 18.8% support, which is 0.8% higher than that in the previous month.

The Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland), the second component of the alliance government, remained at the fourth place, although its popularity also dropped 0.3 per cent to 12.5%, while the popularity of the Vihreä Liitto (Green League), another component of the government increased by 1.1% to 12.1 from the previous month.

The support for the ruling Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) decreased by 1.3% to 7.8 %, while the popularity of the remaining component of the government, the Suomenruotsalainenkansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party of Finland-RKP) remained unchanged at 4.3%.

The opposition Suomen Kristillisdemokraati (Christian Democratic Party), however, gained in popularity by 0.3% to 4%.

The survey interviewed 2,463 people on 8 March to 30 March and the margin of error was +/- 2.0 percentage points, reported the Yle.