Copenhagen, 16 June 2023 (dpa/MIA) — Finland's conservative election winner Petteri Orpo has managed to cement four parties into a ruling coalition, after weeks of negotiations.

The new coalition also includes the right-wing populist party The Finns, formerly known as True Finns. The new government is to present its programme in Helsinki on Friday, the designated prime minister said, according to public broadcaster Yle. Orpo is to succeed Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin as the country's political leader.

Orpo's National Coalition Party emerged as the strongest force in the parliamentary elections in April, ahead of the right-wing populist The Finns and the Social Democrats.

Negotiations on a center-right coalition had been under way since the beginning of May. The governing coalition is also to include the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats.

By Finnish standards, the formation of a government took much longer than usual. According to a report by Finnish public broadcaster Yle, there has only been one occasion when it took longer: in the early 1950s, when the process took 79 days.