Later that year, Rinne was involved in a political scandal regarding the Finnish postal service, after which he resigned and was succeeded by Sanna Marin.

The Finns campaigned on an anti-immigration and anti-European Union platform, while the Greens focused on issues regarding mental health and universal basic income.

[8] Sirpa Paatero, the minister of local government and ownership steering, was accused of being aware of, and hiding from members of the Parliament of Finland, the postal service's project to change the status of a large number of its workers to a lower-paying contract.

[9] The Centre Party then left the government, which led Rinne to announce his resignation as prime minister and leader of the SDP in December 2019.

[15] The Marin Cabinet announced they would combat climate change, protect the environment, and reduce social and economic inequalities.

[16] Her government also adopted a program that would aim to make Finland carbon-neutral by 2035, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the production of renewable energy.

[33] The 200 members of the Parliament of Finland (Eduskunta, Riksdagen) were elected using open list, proportional representation in 13 multi-member electoral districts, with seats allocated according to the D'Hondt method.

[42] Yle cited government borrowing, sustainability of public finances, climate change, and educational decline as main issues during the electoral campaign.

[44][46][49][50] Jenni Karimäki, a political historian, who works at the University of Helsinki, said that "nobody can know what order the three leading parties will finish in on Sunday.

"[51] The Finns Party, which campaigned on an anti-immigration and anti-European Union (EU) platform,[46] cited as their priority cutting immigration from non-EU countries.

Petteri Orpo, the leader of the National Coalition Party, campaigned on reducing spending on unemployment and housing benefits.

[52] While campaigning, Orpo stated his support for economic growth, balancing the public economy, "building up NATO-Finland", and constructing more nuclear plants.

[46][53] Riikka Purra, the leader of the Finns Party, called for austerity, and said that "we also want to tighten up our attitude towards the European Union.

The results showed that Orpo had to face difficult options, as his party differed from the Finns on immigration, climate, and EU membership status.

At that point, it was widely anticipated that the Centre Party, Green League, and Left Alliance would prefer to go into opposition rather than join a new coalition.

Green League party leader Maria Ohisalo made similar statements, citing monetary cuts to education, insufficiently countering climate change, and nature loss as major concerns.