SDP still most popular party: Poll

The support for the Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP), which leads the five-party coalition government, has risen to 23.2 per cent, according to the results of a poll commissioned by the national broadcaster Yle.

The poll results published on Thursday said the main opposition party Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) remained second on the popularity list with 18.1 per cent support, followed by another opposition, the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) with 17.5 per cent support.

Another component of the government, the Vihreä Liitto (Green League) surpassed the Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland), the second largest component of the government with 11.9 per cent support as the support for the Keskusta went down by 1.5 percentage points to 10.7 per cent.

Tuomo Turja, research director of the Taloustutkimus, a leading market research company, told Yle that the speed of the increase of 10 percentage points in popularity of the SDP since the December 2019 is extraordinary.

The government’s performance in handling the coronavirus pandemic could be a reason behind the increase of the SDP’s popularity, he surmised.

The news agency Xinhua adds: the poll led to an open statement by the Keskusta parliamentary leader that the party could leave the cabinet.

Antti Kurvinen, the chairman of the Keskusta Parliamentary Group told Yle that the party must get its policy goals through in the autumn. Otherwise, it may not continue.

Kurvinen also insisted that the government must agree to the “renewal of the labour market” to increase employment.