With just over a week to go until the Finnish elections, three parties are neck-and-neck favourites to govern, according to a poll published by Helsingin Sanomat Tuesday, though analysts believe the populist Finns Party is the most likely to succeed.

Helsingin Sanomat’s poll published on Tuesday revealed a tight race between the National Coalition Party (NCP), the Finns Party and Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democrats.

Topping the poll with 20.8% was the liberal-conservative NCP, currently in opposition. Close behind with a respective 19.3% were the Finns Party and the Social Democrats.

Lagging far behind was the Centre Party with 10.7%, while the Greens currently have the support of 8.3% of voters – a far cry from the 17.5% it enjoyed in 2017.

While the final election result is still too close to call, there is evidence the Finns Party may be the most successful in the final sprint.

Going through regional data in constituencies across the country, a prominent political analyst Jukka Manninen tweeted on Tuesday that the Finns Party could win up to nine seats in the coming parliament – a result that would give the party’s chair, Riikka Purra, a chance at forming a government.

Giving a foretaste of the possible election results were the so-called “shadow elections” organised at high schools and vocational institutions among 90,000 young people in mid-March by the Finnish National Youth Council Allianssi.

Coming on top was the Finns Party (18.2%), followed by the National Coalition Party (13.1%) and the social democrats (13%).

(Pekka Vänttinen | EURACTIV.com)