The opposition National Coalition Party (NCP) remains the most popular party in Finland, according to the results of Yle's latest monthly voter survey, but support for the Petteri Orpo-led party has declined since last month.
Voter backing for the NCP was down 1.2 percentage points from December's poll, leaving the party on 20.6 percent.
The latest survey also saw support for Prime Minister Sanna Marin's Social Democratic Party (SDP) increase by 0.6 percentage points as the governing coalition party leapfrogged the opposition Finns Party into second place.
Support for the SDP now stands at 18.9 percent while the Finns Party saw a 0.4 percentage point drop in voter sentiment, leaving Riikka Purra's party on 18.3 percent.
"The situation has remained fairly stable throughout the autumn," Research Director Tuomo Turja of polling research firm Taloustutkimus told Yle. "The NCP is by far the most popular party, and the SDP and the Finns are in a close fight to be in second."
This latest survey measures parliamentary election support, and is therefore comparable with the polls of the previous six months.
Yle also published a separate poll for the upcoming regional elections at the end of December, which the NCP also topped.
Finland's first-ever regional or county council elections are due to be held on Sunday 23 January, and Yle will publish another poll measuring party support before the polling date.
NCP sees biggest drop in support
The NCP's lead over the second place SDP is now just 1.7 percentage points, a significant decline from the 3.5 percentage point gap it enjoyed at the end of 2021.
Despite retaining the top position in the latest poll, the NCP saw the biggest drop in support of any party. According to Turja, however, no big conclusions can be drawn from the apparent dip in voter backing as the NCP has stayed around the 20-21 percent support level ever since the municipal elections in June.
However, there has been a noticeable decline in backing for the party among men and in rural areas, Turja added, but the changes are well within the poll's margin of error.
Support for Centre, Greens remains steady
The Centre Party, led by Finance Minister Annika Saarikko, remains in fourth place in the latest poll as voter support for the party stayed exactly the same as in December's survey, at 12.5 percent.
Backing for the Centre's governing coalition partner the Green League held firm this month following a big drop in support in December. The party — under the temporary stewardship of Iiris Suomela while Maria Ohisalo is on parental leave — is now on 10 percent support.
"With regard to the Greens, support has stagnated at around 10 percent. It remains to be seen which direction it will go in the next polls," Turja said.
Support for the Left Alliance also remained virtually unchanged from the previous poll, with the party down just 0.2 percentage points to 8 percent voter backing.
Uptick in support for smaller parties
Among the smaller parties, support for the Swedish People's Party now stands at 3.8 percent — down 0.8 percentage points from the previous poll — while the opposition Christian Democrats are at 3.2 percent and Movement Now 2.1 percent.
Turja also noted the doubling of support for parties in the 'Others' category, which rose 1.3 percentage points to 2.6 percent during this latest polling period.
"About one third are Pirate Party voters and about a tenth say they would vote for the Feminist Party or the VKK [Power belongs to the people]," he said.
Valta Kuuluu Kansalle (VKK), or Power Belongs to the People, is the party of MP Ano Turtiainen, who was expelled from the Finns Party last year.
"VKK does not appear to be a significant factor here, even though support for the 'others' category is rising," Turja said.