True Finns rejected from possible Coalition

According to National Coalition's Jyrki Katainen, the Social Democrats and his party have reached a consensus on the matter of the Portugal bailout. This has prompted the True Finn leader Timo Soini to announce his True Finn party will no longer be available for negotiations in the forming of a possible coalition government. This means any coalition that can be formed, will bear a striking resemblance to Paavo Lipponen's "rainbow coalition" from the 90s.

Careful now.

The Swedish people's party and the Christian democrats are definitely in, and have indicated they will support the Portugal bailout as formulated in the SDP-NC pact. This, however gives the new government a precarious 101 seats in the 200 seat parliament, so it is also necessary to include either the Left Alliance or the Greens. The Greens have stated they will not take part in a government that supports nuclear power, and the Left Alliance will not support a Portugal package that calls for privatisation of Portugal's government-owned assets. Former prime minister Kiviniemi's Centre party will in any case be in the opposition.

This all does not bode well for the future government's life expectancy, whatever form that government might take. The undisputed winner of the elections is in opposition, and looks like mr Katainen needs to do some serious compromises with the Greens or the Left, to secure something resembling a stable majority.