THE STORY WAS UPDATED
The new chairperson of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Jussi Halla-aho, did not get such a warm reception. In a highly unprecedented move by the committee members, 11 voted in a secret ballot in favor of Halla-aho while six abstained.
Halla-aho took over the committee’s chair Mika Niikko, its former chairperson, resigned in disgrace after suggesting that some Western leader should assure Russia that Ukraine will not seek Nato membership.
Even if the PS wouldn’t care less, too many in Finland have not forgotten who Halla-aho is and that he was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion. The former PS chairperson’s writings in the 2000s are full of racist Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia, or for suggesting that three women politicians be raped by foreigners.
Halla-aho has not apologized or regretted his past writings.
Below are some of his recent tweets:
Halla-aho tweets (left) that we’d have “no reason to masturbate” if there were no news about migration and asylum seekers. On the right, he states: “Trump is the best thing that happened in a long time to the United States and the Western world.” Source: Twitter
Considering that people like Halla-aho could build a political future by spreading racism, those very things he said have come back to haunt and bite him.
He might get a lot of votes, but he would never become prime minister, never mind president.
Thanks to Halla-aho, the PS has become even more racist and openly flirted with neo-Nazi and far-right groups.
Should we be surprised that six MPs abstained on Halla-aho’s appointment to chair the foreign affairs committee?
Not at all.
His racist writings and opinions will follow him till the end of his days.
