Sanna Marin: why Finland’s PM is facing calls to step down

Critics of Finland’s prime minister are calling for her to resign after a source told a Finnish tabloid that they had seen her dance “intimately” with several men in a Helsinki nightclub.

The allegations were published by the Seiska newspaper days after videos emerged that showed Sanna Marin and a group of friends partying in early August. 

The 36-year-old leader, who is married and has a four-year-old daughter, has found herself in “trouble” over her “high jinks” in the past, but this latest incident “has been the most divisive episode yet”, said The Times.

Some are questioning “whether such behaviour is in keeping with the dignity expected of a prime minister”, said the paper.

A not-so-private party

Videos leaked to the media and published this week show the Finnish PM dancing with friends “in a private setting”, with Marin seen “posing” and “singing toward the camera”, said CNN. 

“These videos are private and filmed in a private space,” Marin told reporters on Thursday. “I resent that these became known to the public.” Marin added that the group partied “in a boisterous way”, and that although she had consumed alcohol she was not aware that drugs were taken at the event. 

At one point, Marin is filmed yelling “jauhojengi”, a slang term for cocaine. Opposition minister Mikko Kärnä tweeted that “it would be wise” for Marin to take a drugs test.

But Sieska’s report today “added fuel to the fire” when it detailed that after the private gathering Marin and her friends had “subsequently moved on” and danced in “a glitzy nightclub, restaurant and cocktail bar” in the capital city “until at least 4.30am”, said The Times.

A source told the newspaper that the PM “sat on the laps of two different men” and that one man “held her gently by the arm”. The witness said Marin “was behaving like a single woman in her twenties. It was hard to believe she was married.”

The newspaper also claimed that an audio recording taken on the night captured a bystander saying “oh my god, she’s in a shocking state”, said The Times. 

Track record

“It’s not the first time that Marin’s private life has become politicized in Finland,” said CNN. Last year she publicly apologised after being photographed in a nightclub “hours after her foreign minister had tested positive [for Covid]”, said the BBC. 

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/957705/sanna-marin-finland-prime-minister-facing-calls-to-step-down