Left Alliance party leader Li Andersson made history on Sunday night, attracting more votes than any other Finnish candidate has ever received in a European election. Her party now has three seats in the European legislature instead of one.
While Andersson's win was the big surprise of the evening, diminished support for the Finns Party will have a greater impact, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
The nationalist Finns Party, a member of Petteri Orpo's (NCP) coalition government, experienced a significant decline in support. They now have one seat in the European Parliament instead of two.
Those worried about the rise of the far-right in Europe overwhelmingly cast their votes for Andersson, HS suggested. The Left Alliance also received support from voters concerned about climate issues, as well as from individuals frustrated with the government's welfare cuts.
Since Finland is not facing any major migration wave, the Finns Party failed to fully highlight its main appeal: anti-immigration.
Sunday's result could cause the Finns Party to doubt some of its unpopular cuts spearheaded by its leader Riikka Purra, who also serves as Finance Minister. Purra is in a difficult position, and raising immigration issues won't save her, according to HS. The paper also suggested that if Purra were to now walk back any proposed cuts, she would not only lose popularity with her coalition partners, but also appear weak.
While Purra on election night conceded that the party's poor result was a flat-out shock, the National Coalition Party's win came as no surprise to anyone. "Let's not forget that the clear winner of the elections was the National Coalition Party," wrote Ilta-Sanomat.
The NCP's MEPs include failed presidential candidate Mika Aaltola, Meta lobbyist Aura Salla, former military expert Pekka Toveri and Henna Virkkunen, who will start a third consecutive term as an MEP.
Sunday's result was meanwhile a relief for Swedish People's Party chair, Anna-Maja Henriksson, Hufvusdstadsbladet reported. Ahead of the election, polls suggested her party might lose its only seat, but they managed to hold on to it, and Henriksson will step down from her position as education minister and the party's leadership and head to Brussels.
Ukraine not an isseue
In many European countries, Ukraine became a dividing line ahead of the election. Fortunately, this was not the case in Finland, according to IS. Here, the entire political spectrum is united in its support for Ukraine, so in that sense, the election result does not change things, the paper explained.
And finally, Iltalehti asked why the election result didn't match the polls.
Political scientist Juho Rahkonen told IL there were several reasons the polls came up short.
One of them is that polls are about parties, not people. This means pollsters didn't account for personal charisma, which upended forecasts.
"One super popular person, a charismatic candidate beyond compare," Rahkonen said of Li Andersson's impact on the election result.
At the same time, he pointed out that while voters may say they plan to vote a certain way, that can change in the voting booth.
"It's much easier to say, 'this is who I'm voting for,' but it's a whole different story to actually go out and vote," he explained.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.