The Finnish Prime Minister at the center of criticism. A video of CEO Sanna Marin posted on social media this week showing her partying with her friends continues to cause a stir in the country.
Part of the Finnish opposition denounces a resignation that it considers incompatible with his role as head of state. For her part, the 36-year-old prime minister has claimed the right to do whatever she wants with her free time. She has also agreed to submit to a drug test, as requested by some elected officials.
• What does the video showing the Prime Minister contain?
The case begins with the posting on Twitter on Wednesday of a video showing Sanna Marin spending an evening with a group of people, presented as relatives. The head of government appears dancing and singing in a festive context. The undated images are of unknown origin.
The prime minister will later indicate that these are “private videos” and “filmed in private places”, while she was spending “an evening with friends”.
Among the people accompanying him, several famous Finns have been identified by the media Iltalehti including a singer, a stylist or even a YouTuber. The images are quickly picked up by many national and international media.
• What he is acussed?
The video of the prime minister, also president of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), makes some of the Finnish opponents vibrate. If a part of the political class believes that Sanna Marin is free to occupy her free time as she pleases, for others the image that the thirty-year-old gives is considered inappropriate for her position.
Others even felt that Sanna Marin had posed a security risk to the country, questioning her ability to make decisions in the event of a sudden crisis.
Other Finnish political figures, on the other hand, lamented that this issue took precedence over other more important issues.
• What did she answer?
Facing criticism, Sanna Marin chose to take over, while expressing her “disappointment” at seeing a private video shared on social media, according to AP.
For the 30-year-old president, the world’s youngest head of government currently in office, controversy has no place. “I have a family life, a professional career and I have free time that I spend with my friends. Like a lot of people my age,” he said.
There was no way she was going to put an end to her moments of relaxation. “I will continue to be exactly the same person that I have been until now and I hope that it will be accepted,” she said.
• Why did you take a drug test?
After the images were broadcast, some elected officials questioned the sobriety of the prime minister, the deputy of the True Finns party Riika Purra evoking “the shadow of a doubt” on this subject, according to the BBC.
These attacks led the leader of the Democrats to speak at a press conference on this issue, in order to silence the controversy. If he admitted to drinking alcohol on Friday, he claimed not to have used drugs or seen drugs circulating during the evening.
“To allay any suspicion, I passed a drug test,” he also said, adding that “never in (his) life” had he used this type of substance. Results are expected within a week.
• Is this your first controversy?
Sanna Marin had already been immobilized last December for a night out in a nightclub in Helsinki. This time, she was accused of not having respected a period of isolation, when she was considered a contact case in Covid-19.
The prime minister had defended herself by explaining that she had first received the instruction that she did not need to isolate herself, being double vaccinated. She would then have left her work phone at her house, where she had sent him two text messages, finally telling her not to leave her house. She ended up apologizing.
The head of government has been seen several times at festive events in Finland since her election in 2019, such as at the Ruisrock Festival last July or the Flow Festival in Helsinki in mid-August. Departures regularly signaled by the political class.
Source: BFM TV
