Finnish center-right to start coalition talks with far-right

The head of Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party, which came first in April 2 elections, says he will start talks to form a center-right coalition government that would see power-sharing with a far-right anti-immigration party. After weeks of sounding out all parties represented in Parliament, NCP leader Petteri Orpo said Thursday he had picked the far-right Finns, the Christian Democrats and the Swedish People’s Party of Finland for coalition talks. NCP, Finland’s main conservative party, claimed victory in the election with 20.8% of votes, in a tight three-way race that saw the Finns take second place. Outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democratic Party came third. The nationalist Finns run largely on an anti-European Union and anti-immigration agenda.