Latest election poll shows National Coalition pulling away from closest rivals

Election hoardings defaced in Helsinki on unparalleled scale

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The latest election poll, performed by Taloustutkimus at the behest of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE and released on Thursday, shows the moderate conservatives of the National Coalition Party pulling ahead of their government partners in the Centre Party and the main opposition grouping, the Social Democrats.
      According to the poll, the National Coalition are set to become the largest party in the country at this Sunday's municipal elections, with 23.4% of the vote. The Centre would get 21.2% and the SDP 20.6%.
     
The numbers make ugly reading for the Social Democrats, who took just over 24% of the vote four years ago at the last municipal elections, where they pushed the Centre Party into second place, with the National Coalition third.
      Just under 10% of respondents said they would be backing the Greens, and 8.4% the Left Alliance. The populist True Finns, who have been showing up quite strongly in recent opinion polls, would score 5.2%, a hefty leap forward from their 2004 showing.
      Party leaders were asked their views on the latest barometric readings last night on YLE's election panel discussion. Taloustutkimus interviewed nearly 2,700 people in October for the survey.
     
Meanwhile, in Helsinki the familiar election hoardings that have been put up in advance of the vote have been subjected to an exceptionally vigorous camapign of vandalism and defacement.
      Hoardings were destroyed at several locations, in particular around the main railway station, in Arabianranta, Pasila, and Puistola.
      The vandalism manifested itself in knocking over and defacing election advertisements or by pulling them out of their frames.
      According to a spokesman for the City of Helsinki, crews have been out repairing damage all week long.
      There are calls for a thorough rethink on the whole idea of billboard election advertising, which could in its present form cost Helsinki as much as EUR 100,000 in additional expenditure.
     
The municipal elections will climax on Sunday with voting across the country on what promises to be a thoroughly foul day, with rain forecast everywhere where it is not coming down as sleet.
      If the weathermen are right, the conditions will provide a further challenge for those parties whose support has traditionally been "soft", including the Social Democrats, Centrists, and Greens.
     
We will update the pages with results as they come in on Sunday night.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  HS candidate selection engine opened to public (2.10.2008)
  Poll: Battle between three largest parties over success in next Sunday´s municipal election continues as tight as ever (22.10.2008)
  Gallup: National Coalition Party threatening Social Democrats´ historical dominance in Vantaa (14.10.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat