Finland's Social Democrats seek coalition allies as political landscape fragments

Finland's Social Democrats (SDP) embarked on Monday on the complex task of ...

HELSINKI - Finland’s Social Democrats embarked on Monday on the complex task of forming a governing coalition, after beating a nationalist, anti-immigration party by a hairsbreadth in the most fragmented election in the country’s history.

But coalition talks are expected to take weeks after the first Finnish election in which no party won 20 percent, leaving a polarised parliament that reflects deep social divisions over immigration and the environment, and how to reform a creaking welfare system deeply rooted in Nordic social traditions.

The leftists want to preserve the welfare system through tax hikes while the center-right wants to see it streamlined because of rising costs linked to a rapidly ageing population. Its leader Jussi Halla-aho, fined by the Supreme Court in 2012 for blog comments linking Islam to pedophilia and Somalis to theft, won over 30,000 constituency votes on Sunday, more than any other parliamentary candidate.

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