Finland’s results in the European election bucked a continent-wide trend of rising support for parties on the outer fringe of right-wing politics, with the Left Alliance and the National Coalition winning big at the expense of the nationalist Finns Party.
Leftist leader Li Andersson received more votes than any other candidate has ever received in a European election.
In Finland that trick has gone already. Right wing ran immigration support to the ground so far right got votes with their campaign of “cars are burning and hand grenades are flying” (they’re not).
So hopefully this election is a first in the counter wave to that.
What did the right wing make of Russia’s stunts re: dumping migrants on the border? Where do they stand on putin etc? Thanks for insights from Finland, always wanted to visit.
They created a panic. Migration officials said that we’re not in a crisis, the capacity and logistics to help people across the border are good. The right wing government made a huge media hassle that the border needs to close and have been finding ways to continue it indefinitely without a real solution to make the situation workable. Now they’re trying to pass the evaluating of each migrant to the border control workers (they’re protesting) instead of professionals.
The far right party has many connections to Russia (and China) but have shifted their communication to hide that. They’ve voted against sanctions towards Russia but their main nazi has done doctorate work on Ukraine and seems conflicted on his allegiances.
appreciate the details!