By Enrique Tessieri
Kokoomus presidential hopeful, Sauli Niinistö, won by a wide margin his rival Pekka Haavisto of the Green Party, according to YLE. With all of the votes tabulated, Niinistö won 62.6% of the vote compared with 37.4% for Haavisto.
The biggest losers of the election were not only the left but anti-EU candidates such as Paavo Väyrynen of the Center Party and Perussuomaliset (PS) party chairman Timo Soini. Both candidates came in third and fourth place, respectively, in the first round of voting.
Soini only captured 9.4% of the vote, which was a far cry from the 19.1% that his party won in April.
The biggest humiliation for the PS was that a Green Party candidate, who is openly gay, made it to the second round. Apart from being an anti-EU and anti-immigrant party, some PS members condemn homosexuality.
Some analysts see Soini’s poor showing as a tipping point for the PS as they face the crucial municipal election on October 28.
Even so, there are some in the PS like MP Reijo Tossavainen who can come up with some Twilight Zone explanations for the poor showing of the party and how the Green Party bubble burst. Tossavainen’s world on the Uusi Suomi blog entry reveals crudely who the PS are.
Tossavainen’s explanation sounds like what Soviet spies informed Stalin about Finland being a cakewalk before the Winter War (1939-40) broke out.
Another big loser of the election was Paavo Lipponen, a veteran Social Democrat politician who captured a mere 6.7% of the vote in the first round.
Finland has had after President Urho Kekkonen (1956-82) four Social Democrat presidents that have ruled the country for 30 years.
That has now come to an end.
What I find ironic is that the PS leadership chose to vote for the more pro-EU and pro-NATO of the two candidates.
–What I find ironic is that the PS leadership chose to vote for the more pro-EU and pro-NATO of the two candidates.
The PS leadership is having a difficult time figuring out where they are politically. They are a convoluted politically flammable mixed bag ready to implode.
Six years of “screaming need of slave labor” x
should keep you content 😉
What does this mean for Finland, Enrique? Can you give me some information on the Kokoomus Party?
Thanks,
Ady
Addi, what can I tell you about Kokoomus? They are a conservative party with such values in a Nordic welfare state context. No party openly is asking to do away with our welfare state. Even so, the next difficult years of budget cuts will permit us to see more of what Kokoomus is made of politically.
If we look at the party’s view on cultural diversity and racism, it has some outspoken members like Alexander Stubb but PS-spirited ones like Wille Rydman.
What values President-elect Sauli Niinstö will stress during his mandate as president remains to be seen.
Kokoomus is the rich people’s party. Or the aspiring-to-be-rich middle class. The old guard is business exacutives with so much money they can’t bend over and the young chicklets are cosmopolitan globetrotters willing to sell their grandmother for a profit. Their “conservative” values background used to be the old “home, religion, fatherland” but that was scrapped in favor of EU-globalisation. Their financial agenda also has been geared towards libertarian economy and quartal capitalism. While they don’t want to scrap the Nordic welfare state, they are making people pay for any services, meanwhile crying about a “need of workers” as nobody can live on the salaries they offer.
Dear Allan.
So poor comments!! Crying times again. Rich people’s party??? Whooooaaaahhh!
You know what. Your “screaming need of slave labor” has been the voice of England for centuries!! Don’t champion yourself for the “working class people”. Your mentatlity founds itself in pure elitiarism. So, please again, annoy other people!!
Obviously, you don’t even respect people’s voting behavior. Arrogancy has always been the key to elitarism. Why don’t you campaign against Cameron who has the same policy of “slaving English society” Spend your time there. A lot of things to do there.
And, if you use your name as a cloak, you are still “gutter-butter”. NOTHING changes that!! Finnish or any other nation!!
Clean up yourself. And don’t forget the sobering up. And don’t answer with these “you-too” reamrks. Boring!!