Finland’s series of scandals after the arrival of the ultra-right in the coalition government

Experienced is not easy Petteri Orpothe leader of the conservative National Alliance or Kokoomus, who came to the head of the Government a month ago Finland. His ascension to power came about after he defeated the charismatic prime minister at the time, social democrat Sanna Marin, at the polls in April, but his coalition partners, the far-right Finnish Partythey condemned him to a stormy start.

Ten days after forming his coalition of four right-wing parties, far-right Vilhelm Junnila resigned as economy minister over his contacts with neo-Nazi groups, one of them the Nordic Resistance Movement, PVL, which was banned by the Supreme Court in 2020. Junnila was the speaker at their gatherings.

This resignation is now followed by pressure on the leader of the Finnish Party, Riika Purra, a political neophyte who became finance minister after Orpo sealed their coalition pact. Purra almost prized the front-runner position for himself, as his party won 20.1%, compared to 20.8% for Orp’s Conservatives. At the age of 45, Purra presented herself as a more moderate leader than the founder of her formation, Jussi Hala-aho.

Now, some comments published by the current finance minister on social networks have become public. Some, written in 2008 and with racist content, were known in Finland. In other cases in 2019, Purra’s attacks targeted Muslim women and the use of the burqa.

They are asking for an extraordinary session

Far-right politics have distanced themselves from these issues of the past. For his part, Orpo considered that the controversy surrounding them had been resolved, but the center-left opposition, plus the Greens, demanded a parliamentary session to resolve the issue. It is worth mentioning that the resignation of his co-religionist Junnila was preceded by a request signed by some representatives from the coalition. It failed because it did not get a sufficient majority, but the minister still resigned for the benefit of the Government Alliance.

Purra can be held at least temporarily, since his predecessor is at the head of his party, hello-honow is president of the parliament. And from that position, he rejected the request for an extraordinary session where the minister’s case would be resolved before the summer break.