Finnish govt survives as new populist faction emerges

Southern Finland: Finland`s prime minister, who was due to tender his government`s resignation on Tuesday, said his coalition would carry on with a new populist faction that emerged after the anti-immigration coalition member Finns Party split in two.

Juha Sipila, who has headed a coalition made up of his Centre Party, the conservative National Coalition and the Finns Party since May 2015, on Monday ousted the Finns Party after it elected a hardliner convicted of hate speech as party leader.

Sipila had planned to submit his government`s resignation to the president on Tuesday in order to get a mandate to seek out a new coalition partner.

But in a surprise move, 20 of the Finns Party`s 37 members of parliament on Tuesday announced they were breaking away to form a more moderate faction, called New Alternative, which was willing to govern in Sipila`s coalition.

"I propose that the government coalition continues with the New Alternative parliamentary group. The group has decided to support the current ministries and the current government programme as well as unfinished projects," Sipila said.

His proposal must still be approved by both the parliamentary groups of the Centre and conservative parties, he said, but "the government crisis is now over."

The five Finns Party members currently serving in the government have all joined New Alternative, including Timo Soini, who co-founded the Finns Party in 1995.

Halla-aho replaced moderate Soini, who led the party for 20 years until he stepped down on Saturday.

Sipila`s Centre Party, the conservatives and New Alternative would have enough seats between them to form a majority in parliament.

Halla-aho, 46, said he was surprised and disappointed by the scope of the defection from his party.

"I had expected that one or a few MPs could make that decision (to leave the party), but I could not have anticipated such a big defection," he told reporters. "It doesn`t feel good."

The head of the conservative party, Finance Minister Petteri Orpo, had been adamant that the Finns Party under Halla-aho`s leadership had to leave the government, and was in favour of New Alternative as a coalition partner.

"Undeniable human dignity is the foundation of Western democracy," Orpo said on Monday.Sipila, Orpo and Halla-aho had met on Monday to see if they could find common ground on which to govern together.

But it was soon clear they would not be able to collaborate, especially on the subject of immigration.

"All decisions are based on values, but compromises are needed when there are three parties in the government. The elastic couldn`t be stretched any further to accomodate Halla-aho," Sipila said late Monday.

"The new leadership`s view of justice, equality, human rights and so on are not the same as the Centre Party`s." 

For the Finns Party, participation in the three-party coalition has come at a heavy price. 

Its support has almost halved from 17.7 percent in the May 2015 general election to 9.0 percent in a poll published Thursday by YLE.

A member of the European Parliament, Halla-aho, a father of five and a former lecturer in mediaeval languages, has said he wanted to steer the party further to the right and push for tougher immigration policies.

His star has risen in recent years, in part because of his explicit writings against immigration and Islam. 

In 2012, Finland`s highest court upheld a conviction and fines against him for inciting ethnic hatred and blasphemy in a 2008 blog post where he criticised Islam and made offensive remarks about Somalis. 

Earlier this year, he demanded that the European Commission penalise civic organisations which rescue migrants from drowning when their ships founder in the Mediterranean.