This morning in Lahti, over half of Social Democratic Party delegates – 281 votes – chose former union boss Antti Rinne to continue as party chair, meaning that he will continue to steer the party for the next three years.
His challengers, Tytti Tuppurainen and Timo Harakka , received 55 and 159 votes, respectively.
Rinne has improved his public speaking and his party is riding discontent with the current centre-right government to high approval ratings.
Rinne says policy disagreements within the SDP are now a thing of the past, and that the recent leadership campaign was a good way of clearing the air.
Party on the rise
A poll of regional party groups found that over 88 percent of respondents think the Social Democrats are now on the same path.
If Rinne can successfully keep his party at the top of the polls, there is a chance that the SDP will once again lead the country after the next parliamentary elections in 2019, with Rinne as the country's prime minister.
First, however, the party is focusing on the upcoming municipal elections in April. Rinne spoke of his "greatest and most important desire" to win the local elections with a unified SDP front, to the cheering of his party faithful.