Finland: Political Developments and Data in 2020

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic dominated Finnish politics in 2020, a year which had no elections. The newly established Prime Minister Marin I government was successful in Covid-19 policy. Borders were closed and the regional closure of Uusimaa dominated politics in March and April. Over the year, the key debate on Covid-19 concerned face masks which were initially not recommended by the government, as no necessary supplies were available, while from August recommendations for mask-wearing were issued for the second wave. The opposition also criticized the government for not reopening the economy and for taking loans, debate intensifying particularly in the autumn before the second wave. During the pandemic, legislative processes were minimal and focused on Covid-19 control. Key legislation was passed on education reform. Cabinet reportThe year started with a climate meeting organized by the Marin I government in February 2020, but this faded in the face of the pandemic. The focus shifted to the pandemic from 27 February. Out of the 264 government Bills to Parliament, 86 regarded Covid-19 control. The policy adapted became one of 'test, track, isolate, and treat to manage and control the pandemic' (Häyry, 2021: 46). The ministerial presence across the government led by the Social Democratic Party's/Sosialidemokraattinen puolue (SDP) Sanna Marin was remarkably strong in the government press information sessions in the first wave in spring 2020, while in the second wave in the autumn 2020, the issue was delegated to one minister, Krista Kiuru (SDP), with strategic appearances by the Prime Minister (Koljonen and Palonen, 2021).The leadership change in Centre Party/Keskusta (KESK) had an effect on the Cabinet's composition. Related to a scandal on her use of ministerial funds for public relations training (Palonen 2020), Katri Kulmuni resigned on 9 June, but continued as a chairperson for the party. Matti Vanhanen was asked to be Minister of Finance, and he acted as Deputy Prime Minister (9 June-10 September) before the election of a new chair for KESK. Annika Saarikko, Minister of Science and Culture, who had returned from maternity leave in August, was elected as the new chairperson for KESK on 5 September. Saarikko became Deputy Prime Minister, but continued as Minister of Science and Culture. The chairperson of the Left Alliance/Vasemmistoliitto (VAS), Li Andersson, left for maternity leave in December; Jussi Saramo was a replacement Minister of Education.

Finland: Political Developments and Data in 2021

“…VKK was registered as a new party in September 2021. The party started as a one-MP parliamentary group in the first week of June 2020, when Ano Turtiainen was expelled from PS due to his racist tweets mocking the murder of George Floyd (Palonen 2021a). On 17 June 2021, Turtiainen renamed his parliamentary group to Power Belongs to the People, to match the newly created association.…”