Greens party chair Maria Ohisalo has scheduled a press conference for 9:30 am Tuesday, following the four-day Easter holiday and last weekend's parliamentary election.
The party fared badly in the election, losing 4.5 percentage points in support and seven seats. The Greens have 13 MPs in the new Parliament, making them the fifth largest group in the legislature.
Ohisalo, 38, said last week that she would announce after Easter whether she will seek re-election at the party congress in June. She has led the party since autumn 2018, first as interim leader and then as unanimously elected chair since June 2019.
A week ago, the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat carried out a straw poll of key party figures, most of whom said that they expected Ohisalo to step down after the parliamentary vote. Some pointed out that this was the party's worst election loss ever, and followed poor results in the preceding regional and municipal elections.
Vice-chair Iiris Suomela, who served as interim chair while Ohisalo was on maternity leave last winter, lost her seat in Parliament.
Some political analysts said that significant numbers of supporters of the Greens and the Left Alliance – both part of outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin's SDP-led government – cast 'tactical votes' this time in a failed effort to re-elect Marin as PM. While Marin's SDP gained several seats in Parliament, most of its coalition partners suffered losses. The Left lost five of their 16 seats in Parliament.
The SDP came in third behind two right-leaning parties, who are expected to make the first effort at forming a new governing coalition. National Coalition Party chair Petteri Orpo is to begin preliminary cabinet formation talks this week. Marin announced on Tuesday that she would not seek re-election as SDP chair or join the next cabinet.