Finland's Centre-Right Leader Claims Victory in General Election

"This was a great victory," said the 53-year-old head of the conservative National Coalition Party to his supporters. "On the basis of this election result... we will start negotiating a government in Finland."

Petteri Orpo, the leader of Finland's conservative National Coalition Party claimed victory on Sunday in Finland's general election. The country's far-right Finns Party came in second place, while Prime Minister Sanna Marin's party, the Social Democrats, came in third.

The centre-right party was given 48 of 200 seats in parliament, while Finland's far-right party was given 46 seats, while the Social Democrats were given 43 seats, according to the AFP. At least 93.4% of the election's votes were counted on Sunday.

Riikka Purra, the head of the far-right party, thanked her supporters for their "best election result ever".

Orpo has held several positions in Finland's government in the past, including the minister of agriculture and forestry from 2014 to 2015, and interior minister from 2015 to 2016, as well as finance minister from 2016 to 2019.

Thus far, Orpo's legacy falls on his praised actions as interior minister when he handled the 2015 migration crisis in Europe, during a time which Finland saw a tenfold increase in refugee arrivals. While building his government, the fiscal conservative has promised to cut spending on unemployment benefits and other welfare programs, as well as cut taxes in order to reportedly "boost economic growth" for the country.