Finland: Social Democratic party up in the center to govern

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) announced Wednesday its intention to form a coalition government with the Center Party and three other formations.

The Social Democrats topped the legislative elections of April 14 with only 17.7% of the vote, a historically low score that requires them to form an alliance to govern.

They narrowly preceded the party of the True Finns (far right), which won 17.5% of the vote.

SDP Chairman Antti Rinne announced he would lead a coalition with the outgoing Prime Minister Juha Sipila's Center Party, the Greens, the Left Alliance, and the Swedish People's Party.

The Center Party finished fourth in the legislative elections with 13.8% of the vote, behind the National Coalition Party (center right, 17.0% of the vote) and the environmentalists (11.5%) and the Alliance of the Left. (8.2%)............