The majority of candidates in Finland’s upcoming parliamentary election have said they would oppose granting licences to build any new nuclear reactors.
Responding to questions on their attitudes to nuclear power during Yle’s interviews with 1,800 election hopefuls, 57 percent of candidates said they would not agree to any more building licences being granted.
The majority of candidates expressed clear views on the divisive issue of nuclear power, with only five percent of respondents saying they were neither in favour or against.
Just 38 percent of candidates said they supported further nuclear construction, with members of the governing conserviative National Coalition Party by far the most in favour. Across the country 84 percent of NCP candidates expressed positive views towards nuclear power.
The second highest levels of support were found among candidates from the populist Finns Party, where two thirds said they would allow new licences.
Meanwhile, Social Democrat candidates expressed roughly 50-50 support each way regarding the nuclear question, while 66 percent of Centre Party members were against – a similar result to that of the Swedish People’s Party.
At the furthest end of the scale, around 87 percent of candidates from both the Greens and the Left Alliance opposed any further building of nuclear reactors.
Last autumn, the Greens’ leader Ville Niinistö walked his party out of the governing coalition after failing to put a halt to the green lighting of a new nuclear plant in Pyhäjoki, north Ostrobothnia. Despite this, four Greens candidates - in Satakunta, Uusimaa, Central and Southeast Finland - told Yle they would support further nuclear licences being granted.
