Sometimes, the hunger for power is so voracious that politicians and their parties will make pacts with the devil. It was the case in September in Sweden when the conservative Moderate Party joined forces with the Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots. Finland will hold its election on April 2, and there is the same trend: the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) is looking at the radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* to form a government.
Apart from losing credibility, a conservative party that goes to bed with a party like the Sweden Democrats or PS may devour the party’s support.
The Moderate Party came in second place after the Sweden Democrats. The arrangement was like in Denmark with the Danish People’s Party (DPP), which supported a minority government in return for concessions on the anti-immigration front.
Contrary to the DPP and the Sweden Democrats, the PS has said it will support a minority government arrangement. In Finnish political terms, it means they have to either win the election, giving them the power to form the next government, or be an integral part of the new government if Kokoomus wins.
The Social Democrats (SDP), Left Alliance, Greens, and Swedish People’s Party have said they will not form a government with the PS. The reason? SDP Prime Minister Sanna Martin has branded the PS a racist party.
With the parliamentary election only 12 days away, recent opinion polls show Kokoomus, SDP, and the PS neck-and-neck for the top spot.
If the PS wins and Kokoomus comes in second or third place, it will prove what has happened to parties that flirt and want to go to bed with populist parties like the PS. A pact with the devil will eat their support.
Not only will a party like Kokoomus lose out, but Finland as well.
If Finland’s next prime minister is from the PS, hard times not only await migrants and minorities like Muslims but the most vulnerable sectors of society like the unemployed, wage-earners, single mothers, and the like.