In the face of what is happening in the United States under President Donald Trump and the rise of far-right parties in Europe like the AfD of Germany, one may ask if we have crossed the point of no return. Finland’s municipal and county elections of April offer us a clear no to that question.
In the municipal and county elections, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* saw its results plummet raising speculation that it may be even a death blow to the party with parliamentary elections due in April 2027.
The worst enemy of far-right and autocratic parties and rulers is none other than themselves. Autocratic rulers and parties become success or speed blind until they smash against a wall.
In a watershed announcement by Germany’s domestic intelligence service it slammed AdF as a “right-wing extremist group.” This could allow the government to ban the far-right party. As guessed, the Trump administration has expressed its displeasure.
Why haven’t our intelligence service, Supo, made a similar conclusion about the PS?
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“If the far right has gained a foothold in Finland, you should especially thank the National Coalition Party (NCP) and its prime minister, Petteri Orpo, who said infamously in 2024 that there are no far-right parties in parliament.”
Later that year, Orpo praised Italian far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a self-declared admirer of Italy’s wartime fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
Be it challenging institutional racism and fascism in Finland, it is clear that the present government lacks the ability to see the elephant in the room. They know it is there but they prefer not to see it and act dumb.
Thanks to the incompetence of the government and its hated austerity policies, they alone guarantee that Finland will not for now become a Hungary or United States.
