The five party leaders of Finland’s coalition government met on Monday in Helsinki, after a weekend of political upheaval.
Prime Minister Sanna Marin became her party’s leader in August, and was joined by Annika Saarikko who was elected as leader of the Centre Party on Saturday. The other parts leaders are Maria Ohisalo (Green), Anna-Maja Henriksson (SFP) and Left Alliance chairperson Li Andersson (who will most likely be replaced by Jussi Saramo after Christmas, when she goes on maternity leave).
Saarikko, the Minister for Science and Culture became the Centre Party’s third leader in less than 18 months after challenging incumbent Katri Kulmuni and beating her by 1157 votes to 773 in the first round of voting at the Oulu convention.
It marks an unceremonious end to Kulmuni’s time as leader after just a year in office, and before she could really prove her mettle at the upcoming municipal elections.
The Centre Party leadership contest wasn’t so much about policy differences as it was about personality differences and Saarikko now has to try and mend a rather fractured party - although she’s already indicated that there’s space for dissenting voices on many issues, as long as the party faithful pull together on the bigger thematic issues traditionally associated with the party including entrepreneurship, countryside topics, the right to own property and right to a good quality of life.
For her part, Katri Kulmuni said in her weekend concession speech that she hoped her supporters would now back the new chairperson - and Saarikko said her door was always open to Kulmuni, although it’s not clear what the really means in practice. “Politics are surprising, and you never know what will happen tomorrow” she said.
Meanwhile those Centre Party Parliamentary Group MPs who backed Kulmuni out of a sense of loyalty; or because they didn’t want to rock the boat with a leadership challenge during the coronavirus crisis; or who genuinely felt she was the best person to lead the party into the 2021 municipal elections, will expect some sort of outreach from their new boss.
“I represent thinking where co-operation, moderation and solution-seeking can achieve the best things for Finns” Saarikko told reporters at a Saturday press conference after her win.
She’ll need to employ the same thinking with her own party.
