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Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, of the National Coalition Party, shook hands with the Center Party leader Juha Sipila, congratulating the latter on his party's triumph in Sunday's parliamentary election.
"The winner of the elections is clearly the centre party," Stubb said in front of media.
Based on the results of 95.8 percent of the ballots counted, the Center Party was believed to have won about 21.5 percent of the votes, and hopefully would get 49 out of the 200 seats in the parliament, said Finnish national broadcaster Yle.
The National Coalition Party came the second with 38 seats, the Finns Party with 37 and the Social Democratic Party with 34, according to the prognosis.
As a common practice, Sipila will become the new prime minister, and will take the responsibility to form a new government. Provided the negotiations go smoothly, Sipila is likely to take the post in May.
The 53 year-old man is a former businessman in IT business, and was elected in June 2012 as the leader of the party.
Founded in 1906 as the Agrarian League, the Center Party is a centrist party that supports social liberalism, and has been one of the largest four political parties in Finland.
The Center has been a ruling party many times since Finland achieved independence in 1917. The party was defeated in the parliamentary election in 2011 and became the opposition.
According to Finnish Ministry of Justice, a total of 2,956,773 voters cast ballots, and the turnout reached 70 percent, slightly lower than in the parliamentary election four years ago. Enditem
