He formed a centre-left majority government, which stimulated the economy by deficit spending, tax cuts to businesses and some public works projects.

The National Coalition Party had conducted a vigorous election campaign, demanding to be allowed to re-join the government after thirteen years in the opposition.

Holkeri declined to form a government, but Sorsa refused to continue as Prime Minister, due to the unpopularity that he had suffered amid the recession's lingering effects, his role in the establishment of the soon-to-be-bankrupt television cathode-ray tube factory Valco, his alleged belittling of family violence in a television interview, and his health problems (back pain).

Kekkonen finally turned to Governor of the Bank of Finland Mauno Koivisto of the Social Democrats, who managed to form a centre-left majority government in late May 1979.

The veteran Centrist politician Johannes Virolainen claimed in his memoirs that Kekkonen had appointed Koivisto as Prime Minister on the advice of former Prime Minister Miettunen, who claimed that the Finnish people would then see that Koivisto was not as intelligent as they had believed him to be.