Support for Finland's three most popular political parties stood at just under or just below 20 percent, according to newspaper Helsingin Sanomat's latest opinion survey. In other words, the three largest parties are now within about two percentage points of each other.
Support for the the party leading the polls, the opposition National Coalition, stood at 21.3 percent, while the opposition Finns Party came in second with an even 20 percent support. Prime Minister Sanna Marin's Social Democrats received support from 19.2 percent of respondents.
HS reports that its latest political support survey differs slightly from a similar poll by Yle carried out two weeks ago, in which the Social Democrats saw a bit more support than the Finns Party.
The paper noted that the last time polling support for the Finns Party exceeded the 20 percent mark was in a Helsingin Sanomat survey in May 2021.
Following that development, the paper recalled, its former chair, Jussi Halla-aho, stepped down from the post. But support for the party began to decline after Halla-aho's departure, the paper said, adding that support has "clearly risen" from that low point under the leadership of current party chair Riikka Purra.
The paper also pointed out that the National Coalition Party's polling peak reached around 24 percent support, but that ratio has now dropped to the same level as it was before Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago.
Finland's parliamentary elections are being held on Sunday, 2 April.