Finns lukewarm on idea of centre-right cooperation on the Swedish model

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The victory by the bloc of centre-right parties, who narrowly defeated the coalition led by the incumbent Social Democrats of Prime Minister Göran Perssonin the Swedish Parliamentary election at the weekend, does not apparently inspire the Finnish non-socialist parties to try the same "consolidation" technique in March 2007.
      Jyri Häkämies, the chairman of the Parliamentary group of the National Coalition Party, sees similarities between the election situations in Sweden and Finland, but in Finland there are no plans to form a centre-right alliance of any kind.
      Also among the sceptics is Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre), who does not believe that the Parliamentary election in Sweden has any bearing on next spring's vote in Finland.
     
The chairman of the Swedish People's Party, Stefan Wallin, agrees that the result of the Swedish election will have little impact in Finland in terms of election tactics.
      In Sweden the Moderate Coalition Party campaigned by emphasising welfare, employment, and taxation. According to Häkämies, the party's Finnish counterpart, the National Coalition Party, is familiar with such themes.
      Moreover, the Moderate Coalition Party's chairman, Fredrik Reinfeldt, is a fairly fresh-faced political figurehead, just like Jyrki Katainen of the National Coalition Party.
     
In the Christian Democrats' view, expectations of non-socialist collaboration in Finland would be unrealistic. According to chairwoman Päivi Räsänen, in Finland the custom is that everyone competes against everyone else.
      "But Finland might benefit from the introduction of the Swedish system, where parties aiming for cooperation in the government would present their policy outlines beforehand", Räsänen contemplates.
      "When you give your vote to the Social Democratic Party, for instance, you cannot know beforehand whether they will sit in the government with the Centre Party, the National Coalition, or the Christian Democrats. In that sense the voters' consumer protection is weaker in Finland", Räsänen points out.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish political leaders react to result of Swedish election (18.9.2006)

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