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Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and his government stepped down on 8th March this year after failing to pass its health care reform. No new government has been formed since the 14th April election.  

In a political vacuum, it is important to have guidelines for what government ministries and civil servants should prioritise. 

In Finland, a tradition has evolved that governments must have a parliamentary majority. The Social Democrats, the election winner, is most likely the party which will form a government together with some of the other parties. 

It is hard to say how long this will take. There is a risk that attempts will be blocked, like they were in Sweden where it took 134 days to form a government after the election. 

“Finland inherits Swedish headache” read the headline of an analysis piece in the Danish Politiken newspaper. It pointed out that the True Finns no longer could be considered a possible coalition partner, because party leader Jussi Halla-aho had taken the party even further to the populist right when it split in 2017. All of the party’s government ministers created a new party, Blue Reform, which only secured one percent of votes in the election and disappeared into the wilderness. 

“The True Finns’ values are so distant from those of other parties. And when they also form the basis for everything else, the party cannot become a government party in its current form and with its current leader,” wrote Tommy Westerlund in Hufvudstadsbladet.