Two days ago marked the 100th anniversary of parliamentary democracy in Finland. Today they’ve got an election. Polls close in about an hour and a half, so it’s about to get interesting. (Well, possibly…)

Thanks to the way this is all likely to work out, we could well see a new Prime Minister emerge by the morning – which would mean that the EU loses one of its most sensible contributors, the self-described “Euro-pragmatist” Matti Vanhanen.

In other words, there could well be a wider impact than just a few alterations to the reindeer supply… Worth paying attention to.

First up, check out Aapotsikko’s overview of the key issues, plus predictions. You could do a lot worse than hop around the rest of the blog to catch up on background. (Finland for Thought also has some decent election coverage.)

Then follow the results as they come in, and keep an eye on Finnish newspaper Helsingen Sannomat (in English), plus this useful news site (and another)

Wikipedia’s page on the elections is also likely to be helpful to those of us who don’t really know much about Finnish politics.

Any other suggestions of handy Finnish sites much appreciated.

10 pm Update: Well that was quick – two hours after the polls closed, 99% of the votes counted, and it looks like Vanhannen stays in by just one seat.

Update 2: Aapotsikko’s back with context and analysis