HS Analysis | Voters fled to basic Finns – How will Kaikkonen attract them back?

When the center’s parliamentary group gathers on Thursday for its summer meeting in Kouvola, the party’s activists have a reason to smile.

Fresh HS gallup on Wednesday showed the highest support reading for the center in more than two years, 12.9 percent.

The new chairman Antti Kaikkonen the first reaction in the message service X – “kas” – told the essentials about the matter: The rise is a bit surprising, because the center has so far not managed to profile itself in the opposition. Kaikkonen has also kept a relatively low profile throughout the summer.

However, something is raising the party now.

What?

One the current trend in opinion polls doesn’t say much, of course. Especially not when it falls within the margin of error of the measurement.

Kaikkonen I was stumped on Wednesday, interpretations of the poll numbers.

“You shouldn’t get too excited about individual changes, and on the other hand, you shouldn’t get discouraged,” he told HS.

However, the support figures in the center have been slightly higher than before since the end of spring. So it would seem that at least a little cheering up is in the air.

It would be good news for the center if it were about the gradual return of voters lost to basic Finns in the last parliamentary elections.

However, Gallup’s background material does not reveal such a clear movement.

It is more likely that the center’s own ranks are a little more closely packed than before.

The center presidential candidate Olli Rehnin the election campaign in the winter already breathed enthusiasm into the party.

Now, the ascension of Kaikkonen, who is quite popular within the center, to the party leadership in June will bring a little more boost.

The question is whether it is a temporary injection or whether the center will be able to keep up its momentum when the political autumn starts in earnest.

From the previous chairman Annika from Saariko already called for a savior for the city center, which suffered from weak support for a long time. However, the opposite happened.

The party fought in the red-green government of the last government period, where it repeatedly clashed with the greens.

It was behind Juha Sipilä (center) the right-wing line of the season, which had brought a big defeat in the elections. They still went to the government, which many in the party thought was a mistake afterwards.

In opposition the center now has the opportunity to recover from the difficult times of the last few years. It’s not easy in a time when people seem to be attracted to the extremes, not the center.

The big challenge for Kaikkonen is precisely how the party could once again convince the voters who backed the basic Finns in the last parliamentary elections that it is worthwhile to return to the center.

Party activists are fueled by the fact that its support in the HS polls is no longer very far from the support of basic Finns. The difference is more than a couple of percentage points.

The time for challenging the government parties from the opposition is also favorable, when the government’s cuts are gradually starting to materialize in the everyday life of the citizens.

So far Chairman Kaikkonen’s most visible openings have been HS interviewin which he considered it important that the center should show more interest than before in the issues of the wage earner side as well.

He criticized the government’s desire to strengthen the so-called export model and was concerned, among other things, about the salaries of nurses, early childhood education professionals and teachers.

Depending on how strongly the corresponding line is reflected in the results in the future, it may also increase the competition between the center and Sdp.

Having heard from the parliamentary group’s summer meeting on Thursday, more concrete information about the direction of the party.

The drive to the stations starts before next spring’s municipal and regional elections, which measure real support.