After bullying, labeling and scapegoating migrants and minorities for a number of years, the Perussuomalaiset party (PS)* appears to be returning to the minor one-digit political leagues, if a recent poll by Helsingin Sanomat is true. Those groups that the PS has attacked and spread lies about will have the last laugh.
While there is still a long way to go before the parliamentary elections of 2019, the municipal elections are just around the corner on April 9.
A poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat shows the Perussuomalaiset in the minor one-digit political leagues with 8.6% Source: Helsingin Sanomat.
Some analysts believe that if the PS does poorly in the municipal elections, which would mean below 10% of the votes, it may prompt the party to exit government. Depending which party replaces the PS or if new elections are called, it could even mean an about-turn in immigration policy.
Even if the Finnish media and some Finns believe that PS head Timo Soini is an able politician, many migrants, minorities and sensible Finns see him as a power-hungry opportunist that has caused more damage to Finland than good. Finland’s rendezvous with anti-immigration and nationalistic politics has been a costly exercise that has undermined the welfare state.
The rise of nationalism and xenophobia in Finland since the end of the last decade have reinforced as well what some want this country to be: a return to the Cold War days when we were a peripheral far-flung nation that literally kept Finland free of migrants and foreign investment.
What have the PS left us with after its historic election victory of 2011? If there is a lesson to be learnt it’s that the xenophobia and hatred you sow will turn against you like a rabid dog on a short leash.
While some politicians and analysts like to blame racism in Finland on poverty they forget to call out the social ill by it’s name: racism, full stop.
PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho, who is eyeing the PS leadership from Soini, is an example of the ongoing self-destruction of the PS. What irony. The man who created this political Frankenstein has now turned against his creator Soini like in the real monster movie.
Migrant Tales is confident and overjoyed that Finnish voters have finally woken up to a lie called the PS.
* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. The direct translation of “Perussuomalaiset” is “basic” or “fundamental Finn.”