Prime Minister Sana MarineCenter-right National Alliance leader Petri Orpo and far-right Riika Poura are leading candidates for prime minister Finlandwhose citizens go to the polls on Sunday.

polar leader

In office since 2019, Marin has become a model of feminist politics and made headlines for her hard line on Russia, as well as controversy for some of her performances and parties. But she was little known in Finland before her meteoric rise to the top echelons of politics.

She was the youngest democratically elected head of state in the world when she became prime minister at the age of 34.

She is considered one of the leading leaders of Europe’s young political guard and is already being mooted for high office in Brussels if she loses Sunday’s election.

During her campaign, Marin defended her economic achievements in the face of calls for austerity measures from the National Alliance Conservative Party.

With Finland entering recession late last year, Marin insists it’s time to stimulate the economy, not cut government spending.

She handled the Covid-19 crisis, led the country to apply for NATO membership, and at the same time maintained balance in her crumbling five-party coalition government… All this made Marin a pragmatic leader.

While some see her as strong and resilient as the prime minister, others argue that the party scandals that involve her name make her unsuitable for office.

Marin grew up in a workhouse in Pirkala, southern Finland, with her mother and her mother’s partner.

She was the first member of her family to go to university and receive a master’s degree in management.

meek conservative

Petri Orpo, 53, head of the center-right National Alliance party, is the longest-serving politician of the top three prime ministerial contenders.

He was first elected to parliament in 2007 and served as minister three times. He holds a Master’s degree in political science from the University of Turku, majoring in economics.

“The most important thing that the National Alliance wants to change in Finland is to stop increasing debt,” Orpo told AFP during a recent campaign rally.

The National Alliance has criticized Marin’s government for what it sees as an irresponsible increase in public debt and said it wants to cut spending by six billion euros if elected.

He is described as friendly and gentle, although some wonder how this father of two endured for so long in the harsh world of politics.

While this calm usually contributes to heated campaign debates, Orpo makes way for dynamic speakers like Marin.

In October, he was accused of demeaning women and had to apologize for referring to the “screeching” of Marin and Finance Minister Annika Saariko during a debate.

While Marin ruled out forming a government with an “openly racist” populist Finns Party, Orpo said he would keep his options open.

Despite his party’s disagreement with the Finns Party over immigration, the EU and the climate still “have a lot in common,” he said.

Orpo is likely to play a central role in shaping the next government, as both the Finns Party and the Social Democrats will need him to create a majority.

“Vegetarian Nationalist”

The image of Riiki Pura, with her signature green cocktails, contrasts sharply with that of her predecessor, who was at the helm of the nationalist and anti-immigration Finnish party.

Before coming to power in 2021, the party was led by weapons enthusiast Yusi Halakho, whose controversial statements led to his conviction for inciting national hatred.

Pura, 45, a mother of two, maintains an Instagram account dedicated to her plant-based diet and freshly squeezed juices.

After her mother died when she was 12, Pura became concerned about environmental issues, overconsumption, and the degradation of nature as a teenager.

He later showed interest in the Halacha writings, arguing that the negative aspects of immigration were treated too indifferently in Finland.

The Euroskeptic Finns Party is taking a hard line on immigration, citing neighboring Sweden’s woes of gang-related shootings and bombings and blaming immigrants for it.

As she stated on public television channel Yle, she was harassed by people of immigrant background as a teenager, which shaped her views.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}