Who is Finland’s next prime minister Petteri Orpo?

The National Coalition Party is set to lead a coalition government

Conservative Petteri Orpo claimed victory in a tight election, stopping prime minister Sanna Marin from securing a second term.

His center-right National Coalition Party claimed victory Sunday evening with around with 99.4 per cent of votes counted on Sunday, coming out on top to secure 20.7 per cent of the vote, with the populist, nation-first Finns party predicted to score 20.1 per cent. Marin’s SDP was forecast to collect 19.9 per cent.

Ms Marin congratulated the election winners during her concession speech, but hailed an improvement in both her party’s vote share and its projected number of MPs.

National Coalition Chairman Petteri Orpo celebrates at the party's parliament election (Lehtikuva)

“It’s a really good achievement, even though I didn’t finish first today,” she told supporters in Helsinki.

But who is the new incoming prime minister?

Petteri Orpo has been a member of parliament since 2007 and became head of the National Coalition in 2016 after challenging his predecessor Alexander Stubb, a former prime minister, for the party leadership.

Born in 1969 in rural south-west Finland, the 53-year-old has a university degree in political science.

Considered a strong negotiator, Mr Orpo has held several government posts, including as minister of agriculture and forestry from 2014 to 2015, interior minister from 2015 to 2016 and finance minister from 2016 to 2019.

Prime minister Sanna Marin conceded defeat (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

He earned praise across most of Finland's political spectrum for his handling as interior minister of the 2015 migration crisis in Europe, when the Nordic nation saw a tenfold increase in refugee arrivals.

A self-styled fiscal conservative, he aims to cut spending on unemployment benefits and other welfare programmes to reduce the government's budget deficit and make room for tax cuts aimed at boosting economic growth.

Mr Orpo has been described as a strong negotiator (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Mr Orpo has kept his options open with regards to which parties he may govern with after the election, including his main rivals for the top job, outgoing prime minister Sanna Marin's Social Democrats and nationalist Finns Party leader Riikka Purra.

Married and with two children, he is also a reserve officer in Finland's national defence force.

Negotiations to build a government are expected to be thorny and could last several weeks.

Mr Orpo has said he will keep his options open, and could cooperate either with the left or the far-right, whom Ms Marin has qualified as “openly racist”.

Orpo's National Coalition is at odds with Ms Marin's SDP on budget austerity, and clashes with the Finns Party on immigration, the EU and climate policy.