Petteri Orpo, chair of the National Coalition Party (NCP), who has been mandated to form a new governing coalition, has begun a series of preliminary meetings with the parliamentary groups. He said he expects to announce which parties will enter actual government negotiations next week.
Orpo first met on Friday with one of the parties considered least likely to join his future cabinet: the Left Alliance. He will meet with representatives of the other parliamentary parties next week.
Earlier this week, Orpo received written answers from most of the parties in reply to a battery of basic policy questions.
Government formation talks are to begin in earnest after the May Day holiday, and could carry on into June.
"We had really good, practical discussions. We mostly talked about education. We also talked about economic policy views, we don't really have the same views on that," Left Alliance chair and outgoing Education Minister Li Andersson said after the meeting.
The Left's possible entry into the government depends on whether the right-leaning NCP sticks to what it promised ahead the election, said Andersson.
"If they make the proposed drastic fiscal cuts, it is very unlikely that the Left Alliance would be in the government," she told Yle.
Andersson said that Orpo had not revealed which parties he intends to build the next government around.
Orpo said there was a good conversation with the Left Alliance.
"We have a very different understanding of the seriousness of the economic situation and the means and timetables for balancing the economy. But we held good, substantive discussions in a positive spirit," he commented.
To build a coalition with a solid majority in the 200-seat Parliament, Orpo must form a main partnership with either the second-biggest bloc, the nationalist Finns Party led by Riikka Purra, or the third-place Social Democratic Party. Its leader, outgoing PM Sanna Marin, has said she will lead any possible government talks, but will not join the next cabinet as a minister.
In either case, several smaller parties will be needed to reach a sturdy majority of 110-120 seats. The fourth-largest party, the Centre, says it will remain in the opposition. It did not respond to Orpo's list of questions.