YLE - The Finnish Broadcasting Company

[Finland]

Coalition Collapses: True Finns Resign
Turku (Åbo)

In a press conference in Turku earlier today Timo Soini formally announced the True Finns’ resignation from the SDP-led coalition, owing to what Soini called “differences over where to lead Finland and how best to accomplish those aims”.

The move was received with shock in Helsinki, the SDP and SFP both caught unawares, leaving Prime Minister Urpilainen to announce that while “the coalition has received some unwelcome news, it shall continue to govern until elections are rescheduled.” Privately, the Prime Minister is said to be furious at the betrayal by her coalition allies, her party now left at the mercy of the National Coalition and Centre Parties, who could easily derail Urpilainen’s social welfare programmes.

This shock resignation means that the President Niinistö must call new parliamentary elections by as early as 3rd August, while the SDP will continue as the head of a minority government. 

With new elections thus announced, the main threat to the established political parties comes from the extreme left and right – the SKDL and the IKL, both of which look to gain at the expense of the SDP. The SKDL, which the Finnish Communist Party leads, has already promised to violently contest the election and leader Yrjö Hakanen has vowed to “smash the reactionary and capitalist forces of the IKL and pronounce a workers’ triumph”. In a counter statement the leader of the IKL, Erkki Räikkönen spoke of the “need to defeat the growing threat of leftist thought that threatens Finland.”

With both extremist parties rapidly escalating their war of words, the fear now is of political violence, echoing the aftermath of the bloody Civil War in which thousands died. Prime Minister Urpilainen called for “compromise and understanding, emphatically stating that violence would severely damage Finland and play into the hands of her enemies abroad.”

[Finland]

Violence Across Nation As Election Announced
Helsinki (Helsingfors)

President Niinistö announced today that parliamentary elections would be held to determine a new government, in the wake of the shock collapse of the SDP-led coalition, on 20th August. Furthermore, the emergency government led by Prime Minister Urpilainen will continue until that date. 

This news was met with mixed reactions across the nation but always with violence – something Finnish politics has not seen for nearly a century. The violence began in Helsinki as the President made his announcement by television, the timing coinciding with an SDKL march by factory workers airing grievances over pay, which soon escalated into clashes with the police, leaving three dead and fifteen wounded – one policeman was among the dead. Somehow gaining access to weaponry, the instigators of the riot continued to harass the police as they tried to contain the angry workers.

Members of the IKL paramilitary organisation, Sinimustat (Blue-Blacks), also armed, soon arrived and the riot became politicised, leaving a further nine dead.  President Niinistö was evacuated from the presidential palace to the outskirts of the city, as riot police and armed soldiers were dispatched to contain the fighting. By midday, the fighting had been broken up but left twelve dead and thirty-five wounded.

Further fighting broke out in Turku (Åbo), Oulu (Uleåborg), and Tampere (Tammerfors) between radicalised members of the SKP and the IKL in all instances. The police managed to contain all the outbreaks of violence but not without casualties.

Prime Minister Urpilainen has threatened to suspend the SDKL and IKL from competing in the elections should any more violence occur but without the necessary majority to pass an emergency powers act, it seems this might be a hollow threat.

[Finland]

Journalist Murdered; Political Violence Increases
Helsinki (Helsingfors)

Late last night, police were called to an apartment in downtown Helsinki after reports of shots being fired. There they discovered the body of Jaakko Korhonen, a reporter for the daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, and his girlfriend Liisa Laine, a waitress. Both had been shot twice in the chest and head, while the apartment was ransacked, with money and electronics stolen.

In the subsequent investigation, it has been revealed that Korhonen was working on an exposé of the illicit connections the IKL had with high-ranking officers in the armed forces. Further connections were made with Korhonen’s ties to the SDP; in particular, he wrote a number of editorials praising the coalition government and denouncing the return of the IKL. The IKL’s paramilitary wing, Sinimustat, claimed responsibility but did not divulge the names of those who killed Kohonen and Laine.

The suppression of free speech by violence was unknown in Finland until this act, and raises new fears for the safety of Finnish democracy, particularly as the IKL provoke further clashes with the SKP and their allies. In Uuras (Trångsund), a dockworkers march led by the SKP was ambushed by Sinimustat members who in the ensuing violence severely injured three though suffered four injuries themselves. Matters have not been helped by the increasingly volatile rhetoric of Yrjö Hanaken, leader of the SDKL, who has vowed to make the ‘streets run red with blood’ in order to defeat the IKL.

In response to this, Prime Minister Urpilainen has promised tougher sentences for IKL members caught flouting the law yet with increasing numbers of judges and court employees either members of the IKL or on their payroll, it is yet to be seen what effect Urpilainen’s tough talk will have.   

[Finland]

Breaking News: Prime Minister Abducted
Helsinki

Late last night in Helsinki, it was discovered that Prime Minister Jutta Urpilainen was missing from her house in Kruununhaka, apparently not returning from her evening run in the Esplanadi Park, from where it is believed she was kidnapped.

Both Helsinki City Police and Suojelupoliisi (SUPO) officers arrived on the scene of the abduction to discover that her two bodyguards had been shot dead and tyre tracks belonging to an unknown vehicle, probably a van or large SUV.  There has been no ransom demand and no major organisation has claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Her husband, Juha Mustonen , on behalf of her family released this statement:
“We are all very worried for Jutta’s safety and we ask that whoever took her please release her back to her family. We are willing to pay a ransom demand and ask for her safe return. We do not want an escalation of violence and instead ask for her peaceful return. The children sorely miss their mother and I miss my wife. I ask that these people who took her turn themselves in and end this nightmare.”

Politically, the kidnapping of a prime minister has far-reaching ramifications, particularly as an election was recently scheduled. Since the party to which the deputy Prime Minister belonged resigned from government, the premiership falls to Stefan Willan of the Swedish People’s Party (SFP), who has pledged all possible support in order to find the kidnappers. He also released this statement at a press conference:
“With the kidnapping of a prime minister, these criminals show that they hold the law and the people of Finland in true contempt. No expense will be spared and all support is offered in order to find Prime Minister Urpilainen and restore common decency to Finland.”

President Niinistö has refused to reschedule the elections and has called on the major parties to show strength, “in such testing times so that in times of war, the laws do not fall silent.”  The President also received a message from Yrjö Hanaken, leader of the SDKL, pledging support against the IKL, who are growing more violent each passing day. Rumours of a popular front comprising the SKP, SYP, SDP, and the SFP in order to resist the IKL have not been confirmed by the SDP or the President but neither have they been denied.

 This abduction comes at a testing time for the SDP and their coalition government, besieged on all sides by radical extremists of the left and right, and suffering substantial declines in the opinion polls because of unpopular domestic policies. The right-wing IKL has clashed with other political parties and groups in running street battles, leaving many wounded and even dead. The growing fear is of a similar episode to the Finnish Civil War, in which thousands died in politically motivated bloodshed.

[Finland]

SDP/SDKL Alliance Against IKL; Lapland Declares For IKL
Helsinki (Helsingfors)

Marking a milestone in Finnish political history, the formation of an emergency popular front comprising the comprised the Social Democratic Party, Swedish People’s Party, Åland Social Democrats, Finnish Communist Party, and the Socialist Unity Party under the joint command of SFP leader Stefan Wilan and SKL leader Yrjö Hanaken was announced today, in order to combat the IKL.

While the SDP-SFP coalition will continue to government Finland day-to-day, the Kansanrintama is strictly an anti-Fascist front though the implementation of certain policies will see the SKP consulted.

The popular front marks the first time since the Civil War that the leftist political parties united to stop a threat to Finnish democracy, and Stefan Wilan did not fail to capitalise on the war-like scenario facing him and the Popular Front (Kansanrintama).

Faced with the abduction of the Prime Minister and now unrest in Lapland, Wilan’s show of strength could not have come any later. Police and soldiers were dispatched to Rovaneimi and Tornio (Torneå) in order to combat the violence. Running street battles with IKL paramilitary groups ensued, leaving over fifteen dead and thirty wounded, including six soldiers. Army units stationed in Lapland openly mutinied as the Lapland Government declared its support for the IKL government, now established in Rovaneimi. 

This lack of support from the Lappish government already undermines the Kansanrintama, leaving without the support of the largest region and politically disadvantaged. Wilan has dispatched further soldiers to regain control of the region but with the IKL firmly in control, Wilan must also hope other region do not jump ship as well.

[Finland]

Tentative Peace Deal Marks End Of Civil War
Helsinki (Helsingfors)

After weeks of civil war, in which over three thousand people were killed or wounded, with a further seventeen thousand displaced by violence, a tentative peace deal between the government and the rebel IKL has been reached.

The peace deal was only reached after the Russians intervened, deploying numerous peace-keeping soldiers throughout the central regions of Finland. Despite tensions not only between the two Finnish factions, but also between Finn and Russian, the conflict seemed to have abated and a sense of normalcy began to return. This new stage in reconstruction began today as leader of the IKL, Erkki Räikkönen, and Prime Minister pro tempore, Stefan Wallin, agreed to meet to broker a permanent peace deal.

 However, the mere inclusion of the IKL in a peace plan has angered the SKP and SYP, important members of the Popular Front, whose support was vital to Wallin’s embattled SDP-SFP coalition during the Civil War. Further complications arise from the Russian demand to establish a constitutional monarchy, with Prince Phillip von Hessen as the King. He has been blamed for facilitating the IKL and giving them much needed legitimacy in the early days of their campaign.

 Wallin knows that a swift end to conflict is necessary, as both SKP and IKL are increasingly calling for the removal of the Russian peace-keeping forces from Finnish soil. Peace talks between Wallin and Räikkönen are expected to begin early next week as both sides accept the Russian peace plan and the Finnish people’s own desire for peace.

[Finland]

Elections Anounced
Helsinki (Helsingfors)

In a muted announcement today, President Niinistö formally declared the date for the upcoming parliamentary elections in the wake of the collapse of the Urpilainen government and the Civil War. All major parties, including the SKP and the IKL, have declared their intent to contest the elections, and already opinion place the IKL in the lead alongside an SKP-SDP coalition, to which Yrjö Hanaken, leader of the SKP, is not opposed.

Quoted in an online interview with YLE, he said, “Working with the SDP is not something to which I am opposed because they [the SDP] are a party with the issues of the working class at heart. [The SKP] have the desire to fundamentally transform the nation to benefit all men, and I know the SDP share [this].” The IKL will also contest this election, provoking anger from the Left at the supposedly “rewarding of those who began this Civil War” according to Oskari Hiriv, SDP MP for Helsinki 18.

Happening simultaneously is the referendum on the Finnish Monarchy, more specifically whether to crown Prince Philipp von Hessen as King of Finland and to establish a constitutional monarchy. Support for the monarchy is high, related to an upsurge in nationalistic sentiments espoused by all major parties. It is likely that the referendum will pass and already, President Niinistö has begun drafting an amendment to the constitution.

However, the rise in nationalism has been criticised by the SKP and SYP as acting as a vehicle for the ultra-rightist, fascist IKL to gain a legitimate foothold in parliament “despite their secessionist past”.

[Finland]

Monarchy Referendum Passes; Election Still Undecided
Helsinki (Helsingfors)

In what many expected to happen, the referendum on the Finnish monarchy resoundingly passed with over seventy-five percent of voters favouring the establishment of a Kingdom of Finland.

Pro-monarchist rallies led by the right-of-centre parties including the IKL took place during the morning of the election but owing to a police presence, were not near the polling stations. These rallies turned into celebrations as the results of the referendum were made known.

Despite a mainly right wing presence at these rallies, most major political parties are in favour of the monarchy as is outgoing President S. V. Niinistö. Only the SKP and SYP are strongly opposed. In a series of meeting over the weekend, in which the exact transition between a republic and a monarchy is expected to be discussed, Prince von Hessen will announce his coronation date and regal name. It is suspected to either be a finnicized version of his German name, Philipp, or a new Finnish name, possibly Väinö I as homage to his grand-uncle, the former elected king of Finland.

The wife and two children of von Hessen will also be given regal titles, as the queen, crown prince, and princess respectively. A coronation date has yet to be decided.

However despite the certain results of the monarchy referendum, the national elections for parliament are still undecided. With each new poll putting a different party ahead, it will be late tonight or tomorrow before a winner is decided. Current speculation places either the IKL or the SDP in charge, possibly with a True Finns’ or SFP backed coalition. However, with thirty percent of districts still needing to announce a winner, the race is destined to be a tight one no matter what.

Stefan Wallin has announced that as soon as a winner is decided, the current coalition will relinquish power and step down, forcing whomever wins to form a government quickly. Wallin looks set to return to government though as the influential Swedish minority will return the SFP to parliament and possibly to a coalition.