Finland’s Premier Marin to Step Down After Election Loss

Leo Laikola and Kati Pohjanpalo
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Finland’s outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin will step down as the leader of her Social Democratic Party and abandon other leadership roles following the loss in parliamentary elections last weekend.

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Marin announced her plan to step down as party chair in September and not seek a seat of Finland’s next cabinet. Speaking to reporters in Helsinki on Wednesday, she also declined to consider candidacy in next year’s presidential election, but plans to return to parliament.

“These have been exceptionally difficult times,” Marin said, ruling out a ministerial role if SDP joins a coalition government. “I have to frankly admit that my own resilience and endurance capacity have been put to the test during these years.”

The 37-year-old millennial leader — briefly the world’s youngest prime minister after taking the job in 2019 — was defeated in Sunday’s vote by the pro-business National Coalition opposition group. With the anti-immigration Finns Party also winning stronger support than the Social Democrats, the vote highlighted concerns over a bloated budget and other domestic issues.

Marin has been an unprecedented ambassador for her country, boosting its international visibility through her personal appeal as a progressive icon but also as a key figure in Finland’s application to join NATO, which culminated in membership on Tuesday.

Having added three seats compared to the Social Democrats’ showing four years earlier, Marin was under no pressure from her party to quit. Still, her stepping aside may make it easier for the party to potentially join a cabinet led by election winner Petteri Orpo, after she’d made frequent jabs at Orpo during the campaigning.

As head of a five-party cabinet led solely by women, she became wildly popular among millennials for her outspokenness and relatability. Marin frequently posted selfies and videos of herself exercising on Instagram, posed for Vogue and made global headlines after clips of her partying at a Helsinki nightclub went viral.

Read more: Finnish Prime Minister’s Stardom Fails to Clinch Election Win

Marin is the third female head of government to step down in a short period of time, following in the footsteps of Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand and Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland.

When Ardern announced in January she was stepping down as prime minister, saying she didn’t have the energy or inspiration to seek re-election, it sparked a wave of global commentary about the abuse and threats female leaders are subjected to.

It also put the spotlight on a wave of senior-level women leaving their jobs because of exhaustion. Sturgeon resigned as Scotland’s first minister, citing burnout.

“The past years have been hard, also personally,” Marin said, adding that she expects to be able to lead a more peaceful life as rank-and-file member of parliament. “Some doors have to close for new ones to open.”

Marin helped steer Finland through the process of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, one of the most significant foreign policy shifts in the country’s history. She drew 35,600 votes on Sunday’s election — an 87% increase over her showing four years ago and second only to populist opponent Riikka Purra.

National Coalition’s leader Orpo, who is set to replace Marin as prime minister, is likely to start the government formation negotiations April 14 after the parliament convenes, he said on Tuesday, hoping to forge the coalition by the June 23 midsummer holiday. Orpo plans to ask all parties elected into parliament to join the first phase of talks on forming a new cabinet for the northernmost euro country.

(Updates with details from second paragraph.)

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