Helsingin Sanomat reported Friday that its latest political poll has placed Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s Centre Party back on top of national voter approval ratings.
The Centre reclaimed the top spot from the opposition Social Democratic Party, which led the polls in January. This time around, some 21.4 percent of voters backed the Centre compared to 21.2 percent who said they supported the SDP.
However the difference between the two parties falls well within the poll's two-percentage-point margin of error.
Finns Party still trails coalition partners
Led by Finance Minister Alexander Stubb, the National Coalition Party continued to hold on to third place with support from 18 percent of poll respondents. Timo Soini’s Finns Party continues to trail its government partners and came in at fifth place with just 9.9 percent voter backing.
Voter approval ratings for the Greens, Left Alliance, Swedish Peoples’ Party and the Christian Democratic Party came in at 10.6 percent, 8.5 percent, 4.3 percent and 3.7 percent respectively.
Market research firm TNS Gallup conducted the poll for Helsingin Sanomat between January and February by conducting phone interviews with some 2,400 respondents. In terms of the largest parties, the poll’s margin of error was two percentage points in either direction.