A poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat indicates that the Centre Party and the opposition National Coalition Party are ahead of the others in Sunday’s elections for the European Parliament.
The poll, conducted by Suomen Gallup, gives the Centre Party 24.1% support, followed by the National Coalition Party with 23.8%. The Social Democratic Party is coming in third with 19.9%.
These figures would give the big three parties the same number of seats as they have in the outgoing European Parliament. The Centre Party and the National Coalition Party would each get four seats, and the Social Democrats would get three.
With about 11% support, the Green League would lose one of its two seats, and the Christian Democrats would lose their only seat in the body.
The Christian Democrats suffered a stinging loss when their MEP Eija-Riitta Korhola defected to the National Coalition Party.
The poll figures would let both the Left Alliance and the Swedish People’s Party keep their one seat apiece.
The enlargement of the European Union has led to a reduction in the number of Finnish representatives in the European Parliament from 16 to 14.
The poll figures came as a disappointment to Social Democratic candidates Antero Kekkonen and Mikko Elo.
Kekkonen said at the Sanoma House debate on Tuesday that he was sure that the party’s support would be over 20%. Elo said that the SDP could do better at encouraging workers to go to the polls.
Although the poll indicates a loss of one MEP for the Green League, the Greens are confident that they still have a chance of retaining their two seats. Two candidates - incumbent MEP Matti Wuori and MP Irina Krohn - point out that five years ago the Greens did better in the election than in the opinion polls that preceded it.
Christian Democratic candidate Marja-Leena Kemppainen said that she has not lost hope, even though the poll suggests that the party could lose its only seat in the European Parliament.
