The five-party coalition government headed by Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) survived a vote of confidence in the Finnish parliament (Eduskunta) on Friday. Marin's cabinet won the trust of 102 members of parliament, against 75 who voted against it. Another 22 MPs were absent from the vote.
The vote allowed at least to verify that the ranks are still united among the five parties that make up the government.
All representatives of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Center Party (Keskusta), the Left Alliance (Vasemmistoliitto), the Green League (Vihreät) and the Swedish People's Party (RKP) supported the executive.
Employment goal
The vote of confidence was based on an interpellation question presented by four opposition parties.
The National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), the True Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset), the Christian Democrats (KD) and the Movement Now (Liike Nyt) questioned whether - in view of the latest developments - the coalition government has abandoned the economic and employment objectives set in its government programme.
The government's stated goal is to raise the employment rate to 75%.
Government policy "irresponsible"
On Wednesday, during a marathon interpellation debate in Parliament, the opposition harshly criticized the government policy and argued that reality is far from those objectives. In their view, the current economic policy is irresponsible and incapable of achieving the goal set in terms of job creation.
"If the 75% employment rate in the government programme were to be achieved, the required increase in employment would be well over 100,000 by the end of this government’s term," said National Coalition Party Chairman Petteri Orpo.
For his part, Finance Minister Matti Vanhanen (Keskusta) began his speech by saying that the opposition was capable of criticizing the government's policies, but unable to offer alternative joint strategies.
This was the first vote of confidence in the Finnish parliament since the coronavirus outbreak.
