The Great Nordic Thread

[Helsinkian]

Just learned that former Finnish PM Matti Vanhanen is apparently the son of race scientist Tatu Vanhanen. Is that true? Why don't people talk about this? What did people in Finland think?

It is true. It was discussed in the papers during his premiership.

[Helsinkian]

In 2004:

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https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5160989

[Helsinkian]

The Finns Party are going to nominate MP Laura Huhtasaari as their candidate for the presidential election in January. Like Halla-aho, Huhtasaari is known as a critic of immigration and the EU. Unlike Halla-aho, she is also known as a religious conservative (in the past she has, for example, denied the theory of evolution).

The following people are also certain candidates:

Sauli Niinistö, incumbent President; running as an independent, though he is supported by the National Coalition Party
Pekka Haavisto, MP, for the Greens; he was the second-round opposition to Niinistö in 2012
Matti Vanhanen, former Prime Minister, for the Centre Party
Merja Kyllönen, MEP, for the Left Alliance
Nils Torvalds, MEP, for the Swedish People's Party; the father of Linus Torvalds

The SDP is holding a primary between three candidates, none of whom are particularly charismatic. In 2012 they ran a former Prime Minister, yet finished below 7%, and it's been hard for them to find a candidate now. The Christian Democrats are yet to nominate a candidate.

Paavo Väyrynen, longtime Centre Party politician who has run for President thrice, is gathering 20,000 signatures to run as an independent candidate, having become disappointed with the Centre Party.

Blue Reform/New Alternative, the group that broke from the Finns Party, would also need to gather 20,000 signatures in order to run a candidate. It's unclear if they'll attempt that.

Since Niinistö chose to run as an independent, he also needs the 20,000 signatures, but no-one doubts him getting those.

[Helsinkian]

Finland's Greens become the second largest party for the first time in polling history:



Meanwhile Sweden's Green Party wawers on the brink of the electoral threshold.

[Helsinkian]

Finnish Greens are relatively centrist economically, right?

True, certainly compared with the Greens of some other countries. They have co-operated with the bourgeois parties in the past. My mother was an NCP supporter in her youth but started to support the Greens in her older age; she would have never supported the Left Alliance but she could vote for the Greens.

Culturally they are, nevertheless, pretty much SJWs.

[Helsinkian]

Finland's Christian Democrats will not run their own candidate in the presidential election, but will rather support Niinistö.

[Helsinkian]

Compared to its population, Finland ranks high in the list of countries from where ISIS's foreign fighters originate. Whereas most countries prosecute returning ISIS fighters, and some strip them of citizenship, Finland does no such thing. Most of the returning ISIS fighters will be allowed to return to the society with no repercussions, since simply being a member of ISIS is not considered a crime if there is no hard evidence of crimes committed. Some of them are even treated as if they were victims and are given therapy.

But the insanity doesn't stop there. Ministry of the Interior is now considering a proposal which would give affirmative action in social services to returning ISIS fighters, giving them preferential treatment in the allocation of public housing. The theory goes that this would prevent their radicalization in Finland. (Source in Finnish) The morons are, of course, ignoring the fact that such people are already radicalized.

A few years ago an MP of the Social Democrats even suggested that returning injured fighters from Syria should be given the same benefits as Finnish soldiers who have been injured while serving as UN peacekeepers. (Source in Finnish)

[Helsinkian]

Finland poll: Greens continue strong, Finns Party getting some traction, Blue Reform (defectors from the Finns Party) still not getting support:

[Helsinkian]

It seems that the Finnish Presidential election next January will have little excitement, as the incumbent Niinistö still holds a massive lead and is set to win the election on the first round.

[Helsinkian]

Here is the latest Finland poll. All parties below 20%.

[Helsinkian]

The grand old man of Finnish politics, the former Centre Party leader Paavo Väyrynen, who founded a new euroskeptic party (the Citizens' Party) in 2016 and who was an independent candidate in the recent presidential election (where he beat the Centre candidate), has announced that he is challenging Prime Minister Sipilä in the Centre's party congress in June.

Despite the fact that he founded a new party, Väyrynen has refused to resign from the Centre Party, and the party has been unable to expel him. (The party rules require that the local party branch expel him but Väyrynen is himself the leader of the Centre Party in his home municipality; the party could expel the local branch but has so far not done so.) The situation is embarrasing for Sipilä, though he is nevertheless favoured to win.

If Väyrynen loses, he will finally resign from Centre and take his seat in the Finnish Parliament as a representative of the Citizens' Party. Väyrynen was elected to parliament in 2015 from the Centre Party but gave his seat to the alternate, preferring to stay in the European Parliament; he can take his seat from the alternate whenever he wants. The alternate who will lose his seat is Mikko Kärnä who has profiled himself on Twitter as a vocal supporter of Catalonia's independence.

[Helsinkian]

Big differences in party support among young voters and older voters in Finland. SDP is number one among 50+ voters but only fifth among voters under 35. And with the Greens the situation is inverted.

18 to 34 voters:



50+ voters:



The numbers are from the YLE poll where the topline results were these:

[Helsinkian]

Interesting and encouraging that PS do better with young voters than on average. Did not expect KESK to do so well with that demographic though. Which young voters would vote for KESK?

Young people who live in rural communities where the support for Centre is still often inherited from the parents. Centre is also traditionally the party of the Laestadians who have plenty of children because they don't believe in birth control.

What is MUU?

That's "other".

[Helsinkian]

Harry Harkimo, MP of Finland's National Coalition Party, announced yesterday that he was leaving the NCP, explaining the move by his opposition to the healthcare and welfare reforms the government is pushing as well as to what he perceived to be an "authoritarian" leadership style of the NCP chairman Petteri Orpo.

Though he has not yet commented on his future moves, there are rumours that he might be starting a new party together with Mikael Jungner, the former party secretary of the Social Democrats who recently left that party. Jungner had a reputation as a centrist, market friendly Social Democrat when he was still in the party. Harkimo is a business man, majority owner of the KHL hockey team Jokerit and he used to host the Finnish version of The Apprentice TV show.

If there were to be a new party it would apparently be "Macronite" in ideology: socially liberal, pro-free-market, pro-EU. This speculation is strengthened by the fact that Harkimo recently registered an association called "Movement Now" (the Finnish name, "Liike Nyt", sounds equally awkward as the translation) which has some echoes to "En Marche". According to its own description the movement aims at "reforming the way politics is practiced".

[Helsinkian]

^ Harkimo and Jungner confirmed that they have founded this "Movement Now". However, it appears that they intend it to be merely a registered association and a pressure group, and not a party. It is unclear whether they inted to run candidates in elections at some point.

[Helsinkian]

Kaj Turunen, Blue Reform MP, has defected to the National Coalition Party. With Blue Reform polling at 1.5%, I bet this won't be the last such defection. Amusingly, the Blue Reform leaderships has the nerve to be outraged and accuse the NCP of poaching their MPs; these being the same people who left the Finns Party last summer.

[Helsinkian]

Finland poll:

[Helsinkian]

Fully expecting PS to be getting 15%> of the vote in the end.

I hope so but am sceptical. Many supporters were left disillusioned by the party's time in government, even though those who led the party back then are now in Blue Reform.

[Helsinkian]

You hope Putin becomes stronger in Finland?

Halla-aho is not particularly pro-Russian though

Exactly.

Here are some of the statements Halla-aho has given in relation to Russia's actions in Ukraine:

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https://www.suomenuutiset.fi/mielenosoitus-venajan-suurlahetyston-edessa-kuvakooste/

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https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000002762891.html

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https://www.iltalehti.fi/politiikka/201702172200072617_pi.shtml

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https://demokraatti.fi/halla-aho-yllattaa-varsin-suoraa-kritiikkia-omille-kansanedustajille-on-annettu-helppoja-syottoja-lapaan/

(Granted, this one was in response to a couple of the party's MPs giving pro-Russia statements.)

Halla-aho's comments regarding MV-lehti, a pro-Russian internet publication in Finland:

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https://www.uusisuomi.fi/kotimaa/188835-jussi-halla-aho-lyttaa-mv-sivuston-rakentaa-venaja-mielista-aarioikeistoa-suomeen

And, of course:

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https://www.verkkouutiset.fi/jussi-halla-aho-sanoo-illle-kannattavansa-suomen-nato-jasenyytta-61723/

So yeah, if Halla-aho is supposed to be a Putinist then he's really bad at being one.

[Helsinkian]

Is the Centre Party still as Kremlinist as it was back in the day?

Less so now that Paavo Väyrynen has finally left the party to pursue building his own party but there are certainly Centre politicians who are unhappy with the EU sanctions on Russia on the grounds that they harm Finnish agricultural exports. There aren't many NATO supporters in Centre but that's true of most other parties as well.

[Helsinkian]

The supporters of Finns Party are generally the most Russophile and Putinophile part of Finnish society. The farmers (core support of Centre party) were after Crimean war pro-sanctions, although it produced problem for them. Sensei knows his henchmen and has become pro-Putin recent years. That is quite simple.

If by "sensei" you mean Halla-aho, then you are clearly wrong, as I have provided evidence to the contrary, all from recent years; this statement is from this year:

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https://demokraatti.fi/halla-aho-yllattaa-varsin-suoraa-kritiikkia-omille-kansanedustajille-on-annettu-helppoja-syottoja-lapaan/

By the way, how many NATO-supporting Finnish Putinophiles are you aware of?

Actual Finnish Putinophiles, like Johan Bäckman are strongly opposed to the Finns Party, with Bäckman even demanding that the party be abolished as "fascist": https://kohudosentti.blogspot.com/2015/07/backman-vaatii-oikeusministeriota.html

The biggest Russophiles in the Finnish parliament are Paavo Väyrynen, formerly Center, now of his own movement, and Erkki Tuomioja, Social Democrat.

The farmers (core support of Centre party) were after Crimean war pro-sanctions, although it produced problem for them.

Some leading members of Centre were opposed to sanctions, including the former PM Matti Vanhanen: https://www.suomenmaa.fi/uutiset/vanhanen-nakee-venajapakotteille-vaihtoehdon--sita-kutsutaan-diplomatiaksi-6.71.77924.c583db0a8a

[Helsinkian]

The suporters of PS trust both Trump and Putin more than the supporters of any other party

So PS supporters who trust Putin (44%) are outnumbered by PS supporters who don't trust him (49%). And Halla-aho is clearly in the group that doesn't trust him.

[Helsinkian]

A while ago Finland's Foreign Minister Timo Soini (Blue Reform) attended a pro-life rally while visiting Canada on official business. This caused a controversy back home and the red-green opposition (SDP, Left Alliance, Greens) and the Swedish People's Party brought a confidence vote to the parliament floor against Soini on the grounds that his anti-abortion activism is contrary to Finland's official policy.

Today that motion failed. Christian Democrats voted with the government. Finns Party abstained. Before the vote some NCP MPs hinted that they might vote against Soini but in the end these rebels just did not vote.

[Helsinkian]

SDP consolidates their lead in Finland. Election coming next April.

[Helsinkian]

Minor crisis in the Finnish Greens. Touko Aalto was elected chairman by the party's members last year. During his chairmanship the party's poll support fell from 17 percent to 12 percent (still higher than the last election result, of course). The political pressure and personal problems drove Aalto to a burnout which he cited as the reason of his resignation as chairman last month.

The Greens' rules state that if a chair quits in the middle of the term, it is up to the party's executive council to choose an interim chair who will serve until the next party congress. This means that a group of only 43 people get to choose the next Green leader. Many thought that this would be the former chairman Ville Niinistö. However, not only did he reject this, he also announced that he's not even running for parliament next spring.