On Monday morning, most Finnish papers reported the results of Sunday’s parliamentary election in Sweden and analysed its possible effects on Finland. In a tight race, the centre-left bloc received 40.6 percent of the vote, slightly more than the centre-right bloc, which won 40.2 percent.
Online newspaper Uusi Suomi says Sweden is likely to face long negotiations to form a majority government. Neither bloc is keen to co-operate with the anti-immigrant, populist Sweden Democrats, which were able to increase their popularity to 17.6 percent – almost five percentage points more than four years ago.
The current Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said he would not step down while his opponent Ulf Kristersson of the Moderates announced he would convene on Monday morning to start government negotiations with the centre-right parties, Uusi Suomi says.
Meanwhile, daily Aamulehti reports that the Finns Party chair Jussi Halla-aho and MP Laura Huhtasaari travelled to Stockholm to join the celebrations of the Sweden Democrats. According to Halla-aho, the election results means that the traditional blocs are now forced to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats whose “influence will undoubtedly lead to tighter immigration policies in Sweden.”
“Because Sweden lies between central Europe and Finland, this has a direct impact on what happens at Finland’s borders,” Halla-aho adds.
Diet linked to temperament
In other news, daily Helsingin Sanomat reports on a Finnish study that links temperament to diet.
An analysis of 1,600 Finnish men and women aged 56-70 found that there is an association between personality and the foods consumed. According to HS, participants were divided into four groups based on their temperament where the dominant traits included novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence or persistence.
The study by the Helsinki University and the National Institute for Health and Welfare found that the novelty seekers consumed more fish, fat and alcohol and less cereals, dairy products and carbohydrates than the other groups. In contrast, those keen to avoid harm had a poorer diet quality, including lower consumption of vegetables, fruit, fish and several vitamins, HS says.
While reward dependent people ate more vegetables and drank less alcohol than the others, persistence was not associated with intake of any foods, the study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed.
The results may explain why people choose such different foods, even though dietary guidelines target everyone, says Mia-Maria Perälä, one of the researchers.
“Personality has an effect on what people want to eat. This should be considered in [dietary] recommendations,” Perälä adds.
Temperament was measured using a tridimensional personality questionnaire while information on diet was collected by a 128-question survey, HS says.
Summer’s gone
Meanwhile, tabloid Iltalehti reports that the sunny summer days are gone for now with rain expected across the country on Monday. Rain showers will start in the west of the country and move towards the east in the evening, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
Thunder storms are also possible across Finland. Nevertheless, it will remain warm, with daytime temperatures in the south climbing to between 16-20 degrees, however highs will be slightly cooler in the north.
[“Source-yle”]