Finnish MPs could vote as early as this week about their confidence in Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government.
The PM is soon expected to submit a report to lawmakers about the implications surrounding the splintered Finns Party parliamentary group – called the New Alternative – would have for his administration.
In the afternoon on Tuesday some 20-odd former members of the Finns Party announced they were leaving the party – but planned to remain in Sipilä’s three-party government – by creating a parliamentary group they named the New Alternative.
That nuanced political exodus appears to enable all of the former Finns Party ministers to retain their posts, but a government confidence vote will decide whether the arrangement will be approved or not.
On Tuesday evening Finnish Speaker of the Parliament Maria Lohela said that a confidence vote is unlikely to take place before next week.