Far-right party becomes Finland's second-largest: poll

(HELSINKI) - The far-right True Finns party has become the second-largest in Finland, a poll showed Thursday, after it surged to popularity on an anti-immigration, anti-European Union platform.

With one month to go before parliamentary elections, 18.4 percent of citizens would vote for the True Finns, according to a Gallup poll published on the website of the daily Helsingin Sanomat.

The record-high figures indicate that for the first time the previously marginal party may have surpassed -- although barely -- major Finnish parties such as the opposition Social Democrats and the ruling Centre Party, whose leader Mari Kiviniemi is prime minister.

Only the conservative National Coalition Party, with 20.7 percent, fetched higher popular support than the True Finns.

The newspaper's poll was however contradicted by another released hours later by public broadcaster YLE, which showed the True Finns gaining ground but still in fourth place.

YLE's survey, conducted by financial pollster Taloustutkimus, gave the True Finns 17.2 percent of voter intentions, just 0.9 percentage points behind both the Centre Party and the Social Democrats, with the National Coalition keeping the lead at 20.1 percent.

The previous poll by Helsingin Sanomat, published in January, gave the True Finns 16.2 percent of voting intentions, while YLE's previous poll gave them 16.9 percent.

Some 2,500 people were surveyed between February 21 and March 16 for the newspaper's latest poll. The broadcaster's poll was conducted during the same period and surveyed 2,428 people.

Finland votes for a new parliament on April 17.

While political analysts do not rank the True Finns among Europe's more extremist right-wing parties, the party's populist rhetoric blends leftist guarantees of social welfare with right-wing euro-scepticism.

In the previous parliamentary elections in 2007, the party won only 4.1 percent of the vote, up from 1.6 percent in 2003.

This year, the heads of both the National Coalition and the Centre Party said they would consider forming a government coalition with the True Finns.