Finnish PM faces battle to hang on to power as general election goes to wire

Election posters in Helsinki for some of the candidates standing in Finland’s general election. Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP

Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, was facing a battle to hold on to power on Sunday with the country’s conservative opposition National Coalition party (NCP) holding a narrow early lead in a knife-edge general election.

Among the 40% of voters who cast their ballots before election day, the NCP garnered a score of 20.8%, fractionally ahead of Marin’s centre-left Social Democrats (SDP) on 20.7%. The far-right nationalist Finns party scored 18.6%.