Victory for the Finnish left

Gregor Gysi on the Finnish election result which saw a narrow victory by the social democrats over the far right, with a good showing for the radical left.

“As President of the Party of the European Left, I would like to congratulate our Finnish member party Vasemmistoliitto on its election result of 8.3% of the vote and thus 16 seats in the Finnish Parliament. The Communist Party of Finland (SKP) led a dedicated campaign and will continue its fight outside parliament. Despite the electoral successes of the Vasemmistoliitto and Social Democrats in Finland, I am worried about the performance of the right-wing populist Finn Party. In the European election campaign, we must try – with our opposition to right-wing populist and right-wing parties – to attain as many votes for the left as possible. Nationalism and racism should not dominate Europe.”