Finns have begun voting in a general election in which the two main contenders, the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Agrarian Centre Party (ACP), are neck-and-neck according to opinion polls.
Following decades of broad-based coalitions, the last two governments under a left/right rainbow grouping under Social Democrat Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, Finns today face a choice between the current government or a conservative coalition led by the Centre Party and National Coalition Party.
In opinion polls published this week, the opposition Centre Party had a slim lead over the SDP of between 0.3 and 1.9 per centage points.
The Conservative National Coalition Party, a partner in Mr Lipponen's Rainbow cabinet, scored 20.7 per cent.
The minor coalition partners the Left Alliance and Liberal Swedish People's Party received 9.4 and 4.5 percent support respectively, while the smaller opposition parties The Greens and Christian Democrats got 8.0 and 4.9 percent.
"The polls indicate the wind is blowing in the Centre Party's direction, but it's very close, and maybe only 10,000 or 20,000 votes will separate the winner from the loser," according to Mr Risto Uimonen, a leading political commentator.
If the Centre Party wins, its leader Ms Anneli Jaeaetteenmaeki would almoist certainly head the next government, becoming Finland's first woman prime minister.
Despite high unemployment, a health care crisis and controversy over whether the non-aligned country should join NATO, Finns have problems deciding who to vote for.
"When you look at the political programs, the Centre Party, the National Coalition Party and the Social Democrats, they are all the same, you can't find any differences," Mr Uimonen said.
This and the limited number of government alternatives are likely to result in a record-low turnout on today, possibly even lower than the 65.3 per cent seen in the last parliamentary elections in 1999, according to Mr Tuomo Martikainen, a professor of political science at Helsinki University.
Some 4.2 million Finns - 205,000 living abroad - are eligible to vote. Around 25 per cent have already cast their ballots in advance between March 5th and 11th. That did not stop candidates from still lobbying for votes late into the yesterday evening in shopping centres and on the streets of Helsinki.
The 200 seats in parliament for 15 regions are elected by proportional representation. Voters have to chose their favourite candidate on the lists presented by the parties. Seats are then allocated on the basis of the number of votes cast overall and the individual success of each candidate on the list.
AFP