Finland’s next government will likely comprise of four parties: National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, Swedish People’s Party, and Christian Democrats, according to Helsingin Sanomat. Even if the makeup of the government was pretty clear at the onset, many questions remain.
One is Finland’s chronic labor shortage and PS opposition to asylum seekers and labor migrants. Despite differences with the PS on labor migrants, Prime Minister-elect Petteri Orpo is more focused on having a right-wing government than sharing power with the Social Democrats.

The new government will have a majority (109 seats) in the 200-seat parliament. Source: Yle.
While we can criticize Kokoomus for giving a political platform for the PS to spread its populist rhetoric, one shameful member of the new government is the Swedish People’s Party.
While it is fair to say that the Swedish People’s Party is divided about joining the new government with the PS, it’s clear that the new coalition will be highly flammable and unpredictable.
Those that stand to lose the most with the new government’s austerity policies are the most vulnerable sectors of society: the unemployed, low-wage workers, and minorities like people of color. Even so, the biggest losers will be asylum seekers from outside the EU knocking at our door for shelter.
But not all is lost. Some believe that it is high time that the PS and Kokoomus start to take responsibility instead of whining in the opposition for the past four years.
The last time the PS was in government was in Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government (2015-2019) when the party imploded in two after Jussi Halla-aho became chairperson in 2017.
Even if some may blame a far-right political trend in the Nordic region and Europe for the PS’ good showing on 2 April, it shows how poorly and ineffectively parties like the Social Democrats and others have challenged the rise of the PS.
One example of the belated stance of mainstream political parties against the PS. It was only in 2022 when Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democratic party announced that it would not form a government with the PS. Even if the Left Alliance and Greens echoed Marin’s stance, it took over ten years after the PS won its historic election of 2011.
You may ask what makes the PS tick and other like-minded parties in Sweden and Denmark. The answer to that question is white supremacy. The PS head, Riikka Purra, is gun-ho about zero asylum seekers and hostile to people coming to Finland from outside the EU.
While she is fighting windmills with her xenophobic views and trying tooth and nail to stop the country from becoming culturally and ethnically diverse, the PS and others like Kokoomus will bring much suffering to migrants and minorities.
In Argentina, we had a saying whenever a military coup overthrew a civilian government: No evil can last 100 years.
Concerning the Kokoomus, PS, Swedish People’s Parties, and Christian Democratic policies, their evil may not even last four years.
