Sanna Marin, the Prime Minister of Finland is in the midst of a political scandal after a two-minute video was leaked in which she appears dancing and singing at a party with several well-known influencers and artists in the country.
On Thursday, Marin said she was upset that videos of her dancing at private parties were posted online, as they were meant to be viewed only by friends.
“These videos are private and they are filmed in a private space. It bothers me that they have been released to the public,” Marin told reporters, adding that he did not know who had leaked them.
Biography of Sanna Marin
Her parents divorced when she was a child “because of my father’s alcohol problem,” Marin wrote in a blog post in 2016.
She grew up in a “rainbow family”, with her mother in a homosexual relationship, in the Pirkkala region, north of Helsinki. They lived in a rented apartment, and despite not having much money, Marin wrote that they had an “abundance” of love.
At age 15, Marin’s first summer job was at a bakery, and in high school he distributed magazines for extra money.
After graduating she worked as a cashier, a role Estonia’s interior minister mocked this week, calling her a “saleswoman” and questioning her ability to run the country.
Estonia has apologized to Finland for comments made by the leader of the far-right EKRE party, Mart Helme.
Marin used the comment to her political advantage, tweeting: “I am extremely proud of Finland. Here the son of a poor family can get an education and achieve his goals in life. A cashier can even become prime minister.”
Marin was the first member of her family to attend college.
Finland’s youngest prime minister
At 34, Sanna Marin became the world’s youngest government leader on December 8, 2019, when the Social Democrats elected this former transport minister to head the government.
Sanna Marin narrowly won the vote to replace then-Prime Minister Antti Rinne, who resigned after losing the trust of the governing coalition partner Center Party over his handling of a postal strike.
“We have a lot of work to do to regain confidence,” Marin told reporters, avoiding referring to his age.
Marin became the world’s youngest government leader, ahead of Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk (2019-2020), who was 35 years old in December 2019. She was followed by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who then I was 39 years old.
Marin’s youth and gender “make her stand out from her predecessors, who have mostly been men in their 50s,” Timo Miettinen, a researcher at the Department of Political and Economic Studies at the University of Helsinki, told CNN.
Finland was the first country in the world to elect women to parliament, just over a century ago. At that time, there were only two women in the premiership before Marin, each serving no more than a year.
What is your political party?
He entered politics at age 20 and quickly rose through the ranks of the center-left Social Democratic Party. At the age of 27, she was elected leader of the Tampere City Council, and three years later she became an MP.
His policy sits to the left of his party, supporting increased refugee inflows and raising taxes to support state welfare.
The controversies of Sanna Marin
The Prime Minister of Finland was negative for a drug test, which was carried out to “clarify suspicions” after the broadcast of a video in which the 36-year-old woman makes the party and that sparked a wave of criticism, reported the Monday his office.
“The drug test taken on Prime Minister Sanna Marin on August 19, 2022 did not reveal the presence of drugs,” her office said in a statement.
The results were signed by a doctor, the statement added.
“It’s a comprehensive drug test. We didn’t choose where the test was done,” Iida Vallin, special adviser to the prime minister, told AFP.
Marin was given a urine test for various drugs including cocaine, amphetamine, cannabis and opioids, Vallin said.
The video released this weekend, showing Sanna Marin dancing and partying with friends and celebrities, was widely shared on social media causing worldwide controversy.
“To clear up any suspicions, I took a drug test today,” Marin told reporters at her home on Thursday.
Marin said earlier that he “participated in a party with friends” and that the videos were “shot in private locations.”
Many Finns have expressed their support for the young leader for combining her private life with a career of great responsibility. However, the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper said the episode raised questions about his judgement. “Marin may have acted in good faith, but she shouldn’t be so gullible,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial.
“The prime minister can, in a sensitive situation, put weapons for information warfare in the hands of those who want to harm Finland,” the newspaper said.
In January, Marin had told Reuters that she and her fellow junior ministers had been subjected to numerous hate speeches because of their gender and appearance while in office.
With information from AFP and Reuters
