HELSINKI, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila was re-elected on Saturday chairman of the Center Party.

In the party convention in Sotkamo, northern Finland, Sipila got 2,053 votes and his opponent Vesa Levonen, who is a local politician from Kotka, only got 19 votes.

Levonen criticized mainly Sipila's economic revival policies, saying "cutting back the income of the poor would not help them". The coalition government led by Sipila has reduced some social benefits.

Sipila was confident the Center would emerge as winner in the May 2019 election. It is now on the third position with 17.6 percent backing, next to the opposition Social Democratic Party and the fellow coalition partner National Coalition Party.

In his policy address, Sipila said the Center Party represents "realistic green values".

The defition attracted commentary by analysts. Marko Junkkari of newspaper Helsingin Sanomat said while the Green Party views nature as "a value as such" the center wants to protect nature as it is also a source of income.