Key conservative party wins Finland's municipal elections

Associated Press

HELSINKI (AP) — The co-ruling conservative National Coalition Party has won Finland's municipal elections for the third straight time since 2008, while its coalition partner The Finns emerged as the biggest loser and the opposition The Greens made big gains nationwide.

Finland's Finance Minister Petteri Orpo declared victory late Sunday for his NCP party, which had received 20.6 percent of the votes with 98 percent counted early Monday, nearly on par with the previous elections.

The opposition Social Democrats took second place and Prime Minister Juha Sipila's ruling Center Party third place with 19.4 and 17.8 percent support respectively.

The eurosceptic The Finns led by Foreign Minister Timo Soini settled for 8.8 percent of the votes. The Greens received 12.4 percent compared to 8.5 percent previously.

Preliminary voter turnout was 58.8 percent.