Central Karelia is a subdivision of North Karelia and one of the Sub-regions of Finland since 2009.
52-448: Results of the 2018 Finnish presidential election : This Eastern Finland location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 2018 Finnish presidential election Sauli Niinistö National Coalition Sauli Niinistö Independent Presidential elections were held in Finland on 28 January 2018. The incumbent Sauli Niinistö received 63% of
104-554: A blog titled Scripta which states that it treats issues such as "immigration, multiculturalism, tolerance , racism , freedom of speech and political correctness ". His blog had between 3,000 and 6,000 readers a day in 2008, which made him the best known political blogger in Finland according to the newspaper Aamulehti . In a 2007 interview with Helsingin Sanomat Halla-aho explained his opposition to multiculturalism in
156-480: A member of Suomen Sisu , an association that seeks to promote Finnish ethnic nationalism . He quit the association in June 2019, but did not specify why, though stating that he sees Finnish people as an ethnic folk. He is not a member in any church and considers himself a moderate agnostic atheist . Halla-aho is occasionally referred as Mestari (Master) as a nickname among his supporters. In 2009, Halla-aho published
208-771: A member of the Parliament of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and again since 2019, and as the leader of the Finns Party from 10 June 2017 to 14 August 2021. Previously, between 2014 and 2019, he was a member of the European Parliament , where he was part of the Identity and Democracy group. Halla-aho has a PhD in Slavic Studies . Before entering national politics, he was best known for criticising multiculturalism and Finland's immigration policies in his online blog, Scripta . He
260-572: A nationalist party can support or justify imperialism." (Ich finde es unmöglich zu verstehen, wie eine nazionalistische Partei Imperialismus unterstützen oder rechtfertigen kann.) In December 2008, Halla-aho was put under investigation for incitement to ethnic or racial hatred (under Finnish law referred to as "ethnic agitation") for remarks published on his blog. On 27 March 2009, the Helsinki District Court ordered Halla-aho to stand for trial on charges of ethnic agitation and breach of
312-560: A parliamentary majority, and leaving the remaining Finns MPs in opposition. Halla-aho led the remainder of the party into the 2019 parliamentary election , gaining one new seat in comparison to the 2015 elections, while none of the Blue Reform candidates got elected. Halla-aho did personally gain the most votes in the whole country and broke the record for most personal votes in Helsinki constituency . In June 2021, Halla-aho informed that he
364-402: A part-time basis supported by short-term academic grants. Halla-aho was elected a member of Helsinki City Council in the 2008 municipal elections as a candidate of the Finns Party (previously known as True Finns), although he was not a member of the party until 2010. In the 2008 elections, he was the 18th most popular candidate in the entire country and the second most popular candidate of
416-423: A problem and believes that Europe is heading towards a catastrophe because of massive immigration. Halla-aho voices support for the welfare state , and places himself on the left side of the political spectrum, in matters of economic policy. Still, he maintains that, all sides taken into account, if forced to choose between left-wing and right-wing politics he would choose the right-wing. Halla-aho maintains
468-478: A professional degree to become a restaurant waiter. Halla-aho studied at the University of Helsinki from 1995 until 2006. After obtaining a master's degree in 2000, he continued with doctoral studies, and obtained a Ph.D. in 2006, focusing his dissertation on historical nominal morphology of Old Church Slavonic . He has published one article in an academic journal. After graduation, he left academia and worked on
520-499: A strong face for the Finns Party, his decision sparked much speculation on the party's decision, as party's presidential candidate was expected to also follow Soini as the chairman. In March 2017, Soini announced that he would not seek another term as the leader of the party. Soon after, the chairman of the parliamentary group Sampo Terho announced that he would seek chairmanship and, if elected, also presidential candidacy. Member of
572-449: Is a taboo in Finland. He has disclosed that he has received death threats because of his web columns. Halla-aho has been accused of racism by academics and members of the Finnish government, and has been connected to the counter-jihad movement, having previously been a contributor to the blog Gates of Vienna . He denies xenophobia allegations against him and maintains that he
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#1733085512793624-526: Is a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs , and a substitute member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection . In 2017, Halla-aho announced he would run for the party chair in the Finns Party leadership election , as the long-time leader of the party Timo Soini decided not to seek another term. During the campaign, Halla-aho and Sampo Terho emerged as
676-802: Is motivated by the support he felt he had around the country during his last campaign and the will to improve the security situation in the areas surrounding Finland. The Finns Party is likely to confirm their candidate in summer 2017. The leader of the Finns Party Timo Soini announced early on in November 2014 that he would not seek candidacy in the 2018 presidential election, after getting 3,43 % and 9,4 % of votes in 2006 and 2012 presidential elections respectively. He reaffirmed his decision in April 2016, encouraging party to move on and inviting new faces to enter party's primaries. As Soini had been
728-531: Is not easy in a democracy. Timo Soini , the leader of the party, demanded a temporary suspension of Halla-aho from the parliamentary group. In the end the parliamentary group unanimously (Halla-aho himself included) suspended Halla-aho for two weeks, although Soini had initially called for a month-long suspension. Halla-aho lives in Eira in Helsinki with his wife Hilla Halla-aho and their four children. In May 2017, it
780-545: Is not running for re-election as chairman of party, but will continue in parliament and municipality. In the 2023 parliamentary election , Halla-aho was re-elected with 22,081 votes. In June 2023, he was elected as the Speaker of the Parliament. In July 2023, Halla-aho announced his candidacy for the 2024 Finnish presidential election . In the election, he placed third with 18.99% of the total vote count and failed to advance to
832-552: Is simply “critical of immigration”, and that he has supporters among immigrants, as well. On 19 April 2022, in the aftermath of Russian invasion of Ukraine when German Bundestag member Tino Chrupalla from right-wing populist AfD praised Chancellor Olaf Scholz 's decision not to send heavy weapons to Ukraine and demanded an end to sanctions against Russia and for peace negotiations to start, Halla-aho responded on X (formerly Twitter) in German "I find it impossible to understand how
884-555: The Christian Democrats decided to back the incumbent President Sauli Niinistö. It was previously speculated that the leader of the party and former presidential candidate Sari Essayah would run again. However, after Essayah announced that she would not seek the candidacy, the party convention decided to back Niinistö. Former Center Party politician and three-time presidential candidate Paavo Väyrynen announced that he would run as an independent candidate if he managed to gather
936-547: The European Union . Long-time Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja heavily criticised the assessment and called it "pure fantasy resembling something from the pen of Ilkka Remes ". Jussi Halla-aho Jussi Kristian Halla-aho ( Finnish: [ˈjusːi ˈhɑlːɑˌɑho] ; born 27 April 1971) is a Finnish politician, currently serving as the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland since 2023. Halla-aho has served as
988-617: The NCP , stated they would not co-operate with the Finns Party led by Halla-aho. The two leaders argued that their decision was based on value differences between them and Halla-aho's policies, and that the Sipilä Cabinet would duly be dissolved. On 13 June, however, twenty Finns MPs, including former leader Soini, broke away from the parliamentary group and founded New Alternative . Sipilä announced that his cabinet would continue working with New Alternative (later called Blue Reform ), thus securing
1040-460: The leadership election , the decision was postponed by Halla-aho's request. A few days after the leadership election, twenty Finns Party MPs, including all cabinet ministers, defected to form a new parliamentary group under the name New Alternative . After the split, most of the potential presidential candidates had left the party. However, the newly elected vice-chairman Laura Huhtasaari and MP Tom Packalén announced that they were thinking about
1092-570: The 20,000 signatures required from his supporters in time. By 26 November, he had gathered around 15,000 signatures. On 5 December, he announced that he had gathered the needed 20,000 signatures. The parties budgeted about as much for their campaigns than during the last presidential election in 2012. Ahead of the election, the campaign teams budgeted as follows: Niinistö 1,000,000–1,500,000 euros, Haatainen 550,000 euros, Haavisto and Vanhanen 500,000 euros, Torvalds 400,000 euros, Kyllönen 250,000 euros and Huhtasaari 200,000 euros. Väyrynen didn't leave
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#17330855127931144-710: The Blue Reform parliamentary group Tiina Elovaara stated initially that the group was likely to have their own presidential candidate. However, as the party was formed after the previous parliamentary election and thus has no elected MPs, it would have required to gather a sufficient number of signatures to set an own candidate. Thus, ultimately, the party decided not to put forth their own candidate and neither did it formally back any running candidate. The party 2012 presidential candidate, Pekka Haavisto , announced in February 2017 that he will reprise his candidacy. The decision came after Haavisto had been approached multiple times by
1196-613: The European Parliament Jussi Halla-aho , Minister of Defence Jussi Niinistö and Speaker of the Parliament Maria Lohela did also express their interest in candidacy, while Minister of Justice and Labor Jari Lindström declined early on. However, only Halla-aho decided to also seek chairmanship in the leadership election. Choosing the presidential candidate for the party was on the agenda for party congress in June 2017. However, after Jussi Halla-aho won
1248-486: The Finns Party after the party leader Timo Soini . Halla-aho won the largest number of personal votes for the party in Helsinki. Halla-aho was elected to parliament in 2011 . His vote share was the sixth highest in the country and the second highest within his party. In the parliament he was made chairman of the Administration Committee, which deals with immigration affairs among other matters. However, in
1300-534: The Green Party. Previously the party leader Ville Niinistö , President Niinistö's nephew, had stated that he would not seek the candidacy. Haavisto was confirmed as the party's candidate on 12 February. The Left Alliance chose MEP Merja Kyllönen as the party's candidate on 18 March 2017, after being the only one interested in running. Former leader of the party Paavo Arhinmäki was also interested in running early on, but later decided to concentrate on running for
1352-676: The Parliament. In February 2017, Urpilainen also announced she would not seek presidency. The leader of the party Antti Rinne , the Governor of the Bank of Finland Erkki Liikanen and MEP Liisa Jaakonsaari likewise announced that they were not entering the presidential race. There were also talks within SDP on supporting a candidate outside the party, such as archbishop Kari Mäkinen , if no candidate would be found from within. Prominent SDP figureheads, such as Erkki Tuomioja and Lasse Lehtinen , even suggested
1404-480: The appropriate people should be raped: in other words, green-leftist do-gooders and their supporters", naming some of the politicians which led to a police investigation. In September 2011 Halla-aho wrote in Facebook that Greece's debt problems cannot be resolved without a military junta . He soon retracted the comment, clarifying that his intention was merely to point out that making necessary but unpopular decisions
1456-411: The candidacy were the former Prime Ministers Esko Aho and Anneli Jäätteenmäki , and former Minister of Economic Affairs Olli Rehn . Rehn declined the possibility stating that it wouldn't be possible to combine his duties as cabinet minister with campaigning. Aho did not comment his interest in candidacy, but it was considered unlikely for him to seek presidential nomination, as he was a candidate for
1508-460: The candidacy. On 4 August 2017, Halla-aho announced that the board of the Finns Party had chosen Huhtasaari as the presidential candidate of the party, and her candidacy was confirmed by the party council on 23 September. On 19 June 2017, Sampo Terho announced that a new party would be formed based on the New Alternative parliamentary group under the name Blue Reform . The vice-chair of
1560-525: The following way: In Finland the starting point [of the conversation] is that multiculturalism is a richness in itself. This is an untenable claim. When rival value systems and codes of conduct are accepted in a society, it leads automatically to conflicts. Finland is no exception. It is mainly the attributes of the Muslim cultures, that make the integration of these groups into Finland impossible, as long as they hold on to their special characteristics and as long as
1612-582: The leader of the National Coalition Party Petteri Orpo tweeted that Niinistö has the party's full support. The Centre Party decided on 30 November 2015 that the party would choose their presidential candidate already in June 2016. Soon after, former Prime Minister and Centre Party's presidential candidate in 2006 election, Matti Vanhanen , announced that he would run for candidacy. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä declined his interest early on. Other prominent names in speculations for
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1664-547: The leading candidates, according to opinion polls. Halla-aho emerged victorious in the party conference in Jyväskylä on 10 June, winning a majority of delegates in the first round, and was officially nominated as the Leader of the Finns Party. His selection resulted in a political crisis in Finland, as the leaders of the two other governing coalition parties, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä of Centre and Finance Minister Petteri Orpo of
1716-502: The notion ahead of the election, but revealed afterwards that his team had collected 162,000 euros for the campaign. After the election, Niinistö announced that the 300,000 euros that were reserved for the second round would be donated to the charity. The first presidential debate was organised on 30 October 2017 by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum at Finlandia Hall . All confirmed candidates took part, excluding Kyllönen, who
1768-462: The office of Mayor of Helsinki. Social Democratic Party organised an informal membership poll in August 2017 for electing the party's presidential candidate, with three candidates entering the race, MPs Maarit Feldt-Ranta , Tuula Haatainen and Sirpa Paatero . The final decision based on the membership poll was made on 2 September 2017, when it was revealed that Haatainen had received the most votes in
1820-539: The poll. Haatainen ultimately gained 48.6% of the votes against Feldt-Ranta's 42.3% and Paatero's 8.6%. Before Feldt-Ranta, Haatainen and Paatero entered the party primary, Social Democratic Party was struggling to find potential candidates, as most of the prominent politicians had declined the candidacy. From early on, there was speculation on two possible candidates, Eero Heinäluoma and Jutta Urpilainen . In June 2016, Heinäluoma announced that he would not seek presidency due to his wife's recent death and ongoing work in
1872-577: The possibility of backing the incumbent president Sauli Niinistö. The Swedish People's Party decided to choose their candidate in the party congress in June 2017. As no one else entered the party's primary on 11 June, Member of the European Parliament Nils Torvalds was nominated as the party candidate. In Spring 2016, then leader of the party, Carl Haglund stated that he was thinking about candidacy, but renounced his leadership and left politics later that year. On 19 August 2017,
1924-664: The prosecutor and Halla-aho appealed the case to the Supreme Court . The Supreme Court granted a leave to appeal in May 2011. In a sentence given on the 8 of June 2012, the Supreme Court found Halla-aho guilty of both disturbing religious worship and of ethnic agitation and increased his fines accordingly to 400 euros. In 2019 Halla-aho said he still stands by his past writings. In December 2006 Halla-aho wrote in his blog Scripta on immigration that, “Since rapes will increase in any case,
1976-412: The response of judiciary. In another text, he asked if it could be stated that robbing passersby and living on taxpayers' expense are cultural and possibly genetic characteristics of Somalis . The text was originally a response to a Finnish columnist of the newspaper Kaleva , who had written that drinking excessively and killing when drunk were cultural and possibly genetic characteristics of Finns and
2028-462: The sanctity of religion . The charges were raised on the basis of remarks related to the sentencing of Seppo Lehto on Halla-aho's blog in 2008. Here, he wrote that Muhammad was a pedophile , making reference to Muhammad's marriage with Aisha , who Muhammad married when Aisha was 6-7. And that Islam is a religion that sanctifies pedophilia . The text discussed the limits of free speech and intentionally made some controversial claims in order to check
2080-626: The second round of voting. On 25 November 2023 Halla-aho addressed the Verkhovna Rada in Ukrainian on the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor . On 3 April 2024, he accompanied President of Finland, Alexander Stubb , on a visit to Ukraine, meeting President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv . Halla-aho has stated that he became politically active because he finds the Finnish immigration policy
2132-597: The second-largest party in parliament (after the Social Democratic Party ), and Halla-aho won the largest share of personal votes in the country. Halla-aho has served as Speaker of Parliament since 21 June 2023. In 2024, he ran for President of Finland . Halla-aho grew up in Tampere and lived there 24 years. His mother was from Alajärvi . During the 1980s he travelled to the Soviet Union with his father, who
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2184-503: The society encourages them to wrap themselves in this otherness. It creates a spiral of social exclusion and ethnic ghettoisation . Halla-aho has demanded that positive discrimination and what he calls privileges due to culture or nationality should not be allowed. Referring to his own works, he has affirmed that criticising " totalitarian fascist ideologies like political Islam " should not be considered racism and that facts cannot be criminalised. According to Halla-aho, immigration
2236-639: The summer of 2012 Halla-aho resigned from the position of committee chairman, while staying as a member of the committee. Halla-aho was re-elected to the Helsinki City Council in 2012, being the third most popular candidate nationwide. Halla-aho was elected to the European Parliament in 2014 . He was the second most popular candidate in the election with 80,772 votes. He sits in the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR). He
2288-463: The supervisory board of Sberbank at the time. Jäätteenmäki, an incumbent Vice President of the European Parliament , said running for president was "not on her agenda". As no challengers appeared till the deadline of 11 May, Vanhanen was the sole candidate in June's party congress and was confirmed as the Centre Party's candidate in the presidential election. Vanhanen has said that his candidacy
2340-508: The vote and was re-elected for a second term, avoiding a second round . He received a plurality of the vote in every municipality and a majority in all but 13 municipalities. Niinistö's second term was from 1 February 2018 to 1 March 2024. The incumbent President Sauli Niinistö was elected as the candidate of the National Coalition Party in the 2012 election. He was eligible for re-election and his decision for running again
2392-527: Was a bus driver. The trip was the spark for his anti-leftist convictions. When Halla-aho was young, he worked as a waiter. When conscripted , instead of military service he chose civilian service . He later expressed regret at his decision, calling the choice a "stupid political protest", and voicing support for the present conscription system. After high school graduation, Halla-aho enrolled in Pirkanmaa Hotel and Restaurant Institute, where he obtained
2444-424: Was closely followed throughout the latter half of his first term. On 29 May 2017, Niinistö announced that he would seek support for his candidacy as an independent candidate outside party politics. To become an official candidate, Niinistö needed 20,000 signatures from his supporters. Niinistö eventually gathered 156,000 signatures and his candidacy was confirmed on 25 September. Soon after Niinistö's announcement,
2496-573: Was first elected to the Helsinki City Council in 2008 and to the Finnish parliament in 2011 . In 2014 he was elected to the European Parliament . He was elected leader of the Finns Party in the summer of 2017, defeating Sampo Terho , after which the majority of the party's MPs seceded in protest and formed a new party . In spite of this, Halla-aho led the Finns Party to success in the 2019 election : it recovered all of its lost seats, becoming
2548-527: Was intended to underline the hypocrisy of it being possible to be prosecuted for one of those essentially similar statements but not for the other. On 8 September 2009, the District Court convicted Halla-aho of disturbing religious worship, and ordered him to pay a fine of 330 euros. The charge of ethnic agitation was dismissed. In October 2010 the Court of Appeal agreed with the District Court's conviction. Both
2600-440: Was on a business trip. The event marks the earliest moment that the incumbent president has taken part in debates. The debates continued at the University of Helsinki on 13 November, with Vanhanen being absent after being hospitalised for heart arrhythmia . As Väyrynen became an official candidate only in early December, he was not invited to the first three debates and thus the first debate, that gathered all candidates together,
2652-628: Was organised on 13 December 2017. In October 2017, the Security Committee of the Finnish Ministry of Defence released an assessment on the possibilities of Russian involvement in the presidential election. The assessment addressed nine possible scenarios, ranging from spreading false information through social media to a political assassination. The Security Committee also suggested ten possible objectives for Russian involvement, including obstructing discussion on NATO and isolating Finland from
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#17330855127932704-420: Was revealed that he had also had one child with another woman in 2015. Information was leaked to the press by the anonymous mother, who was disappointed that Halla-aho had always mentioned publicly that he only had four children. Halla-aho confirmed the information when asked, but declined to further comment it. Halla-aho's hobbies include reading astronomy as well as pistol and rifle shooting . He used to be
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