Crosspost from c/europe
"Minister survives confidence vote after far-right scandal
Three opposition parties called for the vote over the Finns Party minister's links to far-right groups and past statements.
Finland's new economic affairs minister and member of the nationalist Finns Party, Vilhelm Junnila, survived a confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday.
MPs votes on the measure fell 95-86 with three abstentions and 15 absences.
The confidence vote was called by three opposition parties, the Left Alliance, Green and Social Democratic parties, due to Junnila's previous controversial statements and links to far-right groups.
Seven Swedish People's Party MPs voted against Junnila, with the other three abstaining. Three National Coalition MPs were absent for the vote, but the other government party MPs voted their confidence in the controversial politician.
Junnila has joked about his election number (88) referencing 'Heil Hitler', campaigned at an election under the "gas" slogan and spoken at at least one event organised by a far-right group.
The recently-appointed minister apologised last week for his comments and actions, following two days of media controversy about the matter.
MPs also voted on the government programme, with 106 voting to support it, 78 voting against, and one abstention. 15 legislators were away for that vote.'
Update: Junnila is resigning (in Finnish).
EDIT: And as if anything previously told wasn't enough, he has fabricated his education and work history (also in Finnish).
Let's see what happens to the rest. Is he a precedent or a tactic to sweep the issue under the rug.
Up next is the interior minister Mari Rantanen (the Finns Party) who has previously made social media posts about the great replacement. Finland's Interior Ministry considers the great replacement a far-right conspiracy theory. One reporter asked the PM Petteri Orpo (NCP) about this, considering how last week he said that the government has zero tolerance for flirting with extremist movements. He claimed not to know anything about this. "The Finns Party, as we know, is a little bit different player in politics." Really ironic.
This is embarrassing for Riikka Purra, the Finns Party leader. She had previously threatened to break up the government, should the confidence vote be against Junnila. Well, now Junnila himself resigned. Purra hasn't said a single thing about this, what is she, a coward eating her words?
This is also embarrassing for the NCP. All the party's MPs present voted in favor of Junnila. One Jewish MP of the party refused to vote. The party showed how they could support a Nazi publicly and the Finns Party has them by the balls. For NCP, it seemed like Junnila being a Nazi wasn't a problem, but Finland's reputation getting tainted was. NCP is ready to bend over backwards as long as they get what they want – or if there's no spine at all, no problem.
Wow, it almost sounds like forming a government with a far-right party might not be such a great idea after all.
Orpo said that zero tolerance for racism is stated in the government's programme, and yet the Finns Party is in the government coalition. The party that is "not racist, but #1 among racists". The whole government lineup feels like a forced marriage with no clear common values, all the parties being only held together through the power of an illusion. This government will not last long, mark my words.
Also what perplexes me is our media's role in this – or more accurately revelations about Junnila not originating from media investigation but from independent bloggers and social media users. Foreign media called our new government far-right, whereas our media just called it "right-wing" and walked on eggshells, especially regarding the Finns Party. After the revelations caught enough flak on social media when all the new ministers were appointed, only then media started paying attention. Our media could have investigated all this for several weeks. Junnila's resignation was mostly influenced by the pressure from civil society.
Therefore it's interesting to see whether our media is going to make news about Junnila and other Finns Party members, this time with more investigation, or do they consider their job done. Mari Rantanen gaining attention is hinting for the first option.