Government of the Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) won on Wednesday when Parliament approved its plan to reform Finland’s social and health care services Sote, after a process that has frustrated successive governments over the past decade.
The government won the vote by a margin of 105-77 on Wednesday afternoon and not abstained. Seventeen Members of Parliament were not out of the Chamber.
The result of the vote will lead to a historic change in the organization and provision of social and health services. By the beginning of 2023, 293 Finnish municipalities will be responsible to 21 regional authorities and the City of Helsinki.
Provincial elections to decide on the composition of each regional authority are scheduled for early 2022.
The voting followed the lines of the parties, with all members of the chamber’s board voting in favor, and all opposition representatives present voting against.
Before the vote, three members of the Green Party had announced their intention to reject their own coalition government proposal, but no one present voted against it. Five representatives of the Green Party were not present.
Successive governments have failed to get reform over the line with the former prime minister’s administration Juha Sipilä (Cen) is different in 2019.
Source: The Nordic Page