A poll published by Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday suggests that Jutta Urpilainen's days as finance minister and chair of the Social Democratic Party may be numbered.
It shows that her challenger for the party leadership, union boss Antti Rinne, enjoys a substantial lead ahead of the party congress just over a month and a half from now.
Forty-five percent of SDP delegates who responded to the poll said they intend to vote for Rinne. Meanwhile 31 percent back Urpilainen's re-election.
However nearly a quarter of respondents said they'd vote for someone else or couldn't say who they'd support.
Younger delegates back older candidate
Support for Rinne was strongest among men and younger delegates.
If Urpilainen loses her re-election bid, she is expected to give up her government posts as well. Urpilainen, who is 38, has been finance minister and deputy prime minister since 2011 and the SDP's first female chair since 2008. Rinne, a 51-year-old lawyer from Helsinki, has led the salaried employees' trade union Pro since it was established in 2011.
Of the 500 delegates, 328 responded to the survey.
The party congress begins on May 8 in the western town of Seinäjoki.
