Sanna Marin: Finland’s former head of government ends her political career

Finland’s former prime minister
New job calls: Sanna Marin announces the end of politics

Farewell in installments: After the defeat of her Social Democrats in the parliamentary elections and her withdrawal from the party leadership, Finland’s former Prime Minister Sanna Marin is also giving up her parliamentary seat. In the future, Marin told journalists that she would work as an advisor for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s charitable foundation, the Institute for Global Change.

“I can also work for Finland in other functions,” said the 37-year-old. In her new job, she will “advise governments and leaders of various countries on policy issues with which I am familiar,” she said, emphasizing that she believes the work will benefit the entire country.

When she took office in 2019, Marin was the youngest head of government in the world at the age of 34. Despite their personal popularity, their Social Democrats lost the parliamentary elections last April.

Sanna Marin loses parliamentary election

Marin accepted responsibility for the defeat while admitting that her four-year term as head of government had taken its toll: “My own endurance was tested at times.”

At that time she announced that she would give up the chairmanship of her SDP and only want to be a simple member of parliament. In May she announced that she and her husband Markus Räikkonen had filed for divorce “together”. Now she is no longer an MP.

At the end of August last year, a video of Marin that was distributed on online networks caused a stir, showing the Prime Minister, who was celebrated as a political rock star, exuberantly dancing and partying with friends and celebrities. The pictures went around the world. Discussions erupted about leaders’ behavior in their private lives, with some calling for Marin to be drug tested – a demand she eventually complied with to end the rumors.

luc
AFP