Finland to vote, a day with Sanna Marin. Re-election in doubt: “too much to spend” – Corriere.it

From our correspondent
TAMPERE AND HELSINKI – In the Tampere market, it looks like a lavender among a sea of ​​black coats (it’s -5C): scarlet lips, pale red cashmere, leather jacket. December 8, 2019 was your first day in government and you, Sanna Marin, 34 years old She was the world’s youngest first president, he was wearing a somber knee-length suit and not a speck of make-up. April 1, 2023 may be her last day as prime minister in full office: after 40 months, a pandemic and war, the world has changed and so has she. On the ballot this will probably cost you.

Today we vote in Finland e The party of the first star, the Social Democrats, is only third in opinion pollshere is predictive so that it fetches decimals: yesterday National Coalition Party, the center-right led by 54-year-old Petteri Urbu with 19.8%. then “Finnish” is Marin’s sworn enemyand Rica Pura, with 19.2%. and finally the Social Democrats, 18.7%. The government is formed by the candidate of the party that receives the highest number of votes; The person remains in office, to address current affairs, until the formation of the new one, which is expected to arrive in the summer. Consultations begin April 17. “My heart is high, I know we’ll make it,” Maren exhales with a smile among fans asking her for pictures. Tampere, with a working-class past, is his hometown.

Yet he will not vote for her, for example, Contemporary architect Jean Baltalawho passes into the assembly. “Too aggressive, too intense. Demonize your opponents.” As he speaks, the field applauds Marin. What did he promise? More nurses in nursing homes. In fact, there are few of Marin and Baltala’s peers here. The cheering crowd consists largely of retirees. Someone waves a crutch to cheer. The front row is a row of pedestrians. investigation beforeHelsingin SanomatThree years ago, among party members There were more than 90 under 35s. Marin’s march looks like a postcard from an idyllic past that 15 years of global crises seem to have eroded here too: the password, in fact can only be uttered at these latitudes, hyvinvoinvalioAny social status.

“The country’s best resource is not forests, it’s brains,” Marin thunders, to a standing ovation: For six minutes of the 14th of the march he talks about the school“Which we will return to the best standards.” The ghost is Estonia, which beat out Finland for first place in the OECD-PISA tests. “Growth is not achieved by reducing corporate taxes, but by research and development.” Then health care, inequality, and subsidies. She takes an hour to leave: everyone wants a picture with her.

Marin’s approval rating is high: 62%. and 69% among womenMarco Juncari, columnist and editorial director atHelsingin Sanomat. “And they love it outside.” Today 60 accredited journalists from all over the world. So why is he walking? Blame it on “Partygate” that overwhelmed you last summer? “No. He is paying the price for political mistakes.”The Center Party will no longer unite: “Very lefty”. By ruling out that she would ally herself with the monarchs, she “broke the tradition of agreements too broad”. And with Orpo he can hardly rule: He is a statesman, he is calling for 6 billion cuts.

“The deficit worries me,” explains the economist. Martin Bassi, Owner of the Financial Education Podcast and Candidate with Petteri Orpo. “With Marin, we earned $10 billion in debt a year.” 45% of public spending is social safety nets. “There are 200,000 unemployed. Instead of feeding them we have to train them: there is a crisis in the workforce, but supply and demand are not meeting.” Arguments that bring votes in an economic crisis. “Our country is not waste, but investments,” says Sanna Marin. From Lempäälä Theatre, The second assembly on its last day in the campaign. “No one will be left behind” queues at the party platforms serving – it’s tradition – sausages or pancakes. Sdp typical dish is pea soup. “Like in the army”remembers a member. 1,700,000 Finns voted early; The remaining 60% vote today.

‘If you have abstinent friends, bring them with you’: the party boss also took to the stage in Helsinki, in the formerly run-down district of Karhopoisto Tarja Halonen, 79 years old, the first female president of the republic (between 2000 and 2012, known in the Italian news since Silvio Berlusconi said he had obtained residency in Parma for an EU agency that Finland was also interested in “getting rid of my playing skills with her”). Do you see your colleague again? “Very. And I’m proud of her. She had an unimaginable four years, and came out of it fantastic.” Still, it’s hard to blame Marin for being “nervous” among critics: the campaign avatar sees her and Rika Bora arguing in a TV studio, while Urbu laughs .

Marin has lost weight, tried her “gate party”, and has just bought a house in a neoclassical building in the fashionable Töölö neighborhood. If he does not win, and is forced to leave Kesäranta’s house, he will go to stay there immediately. Maybe alone. In the capital gossip rumors about divorce Chasing each other: the joint press release with her husband Markus Raikkonen will be ready in her PR note drawers, awaiting the outcome of the vote. As for his potential new life as a “loser,” he said, “I think he’s not going to want favors, not right away. He might run for the presidencythought the Jankari. Others think NATO. From the Karhupuisto Theatre, where star Sanna Marin’s campaign ends, Töölö is not far.