With the next general election on 18 April 2027, some eyes are pointing towards the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, which suffered a catastrophic municipal and county election. If such misfortunes aren’t enough, recent opinion polls have put the far-right party in fourth place behind the Center Party.
The PS’ fall is significant. The last time the party was at 10% levels in the polls was in January 2019, when it was 9.7%. It is a far cry from its peak of 22.8% in January 2020.
Almost everyone knows that when the PS is facing problems, it turns to its immigration rhetoric. One reason the party has fared so well in the general elections after 2011 is that it has skillfully brought the “migrant threat” to the attention of voters.
Migrant Tales published in Reilumedia in 2023, highlighted the use of migrant crime by the PS as a ploy to attract voters. We wrote: As the past has demonstrated, the radical-right PS had lured voters through news stories involving migrants and asylum seekers committing crimes in the 2011, 2015, and 2019 parliamentary elections. One of the many big ‘migrant scandals’, the PS
wants to exploit for the April election is the threat of ‘youth gangs.'”
Below are some of the lessons learned from the potential youth gang problem that the media, the PS and police exploited for their own aims.
Source: Reilumedia.
So, here is the question: Which migrant crime theme will the PS choose to jack up its dying support? I guess that they will use asylum seekers at the Finnish-Russian border to instill fear and attract voters. Will it work and offer the PS a lifesaver?
