At 36 years old, Sanna Marin has a lot to tell. She became the youngest president in Finland, but she was also the youngest government leader in the world, until Gabriel Boric, the president of Chile, took that place, since he was born a few months after the young prime minister.
Although holding such an important position, being so young, did not give him as much worldwide popularity as videos that leaked in recent weeks did.
In these records she could be seen dancing, as any person of her age would do, of course it is probably not customary to see someone like this, considering the position she occupies.
In recent weeks, Marin has been the target of criticism from the opposition to his government, with a drug test in the middle and even a public apology.
But who is Sanna Marin and why is she a prime minister who commands so much global attention? It also opens another question to the debate: to what extent can politicians enjoy life?
Sanna Marín, with 34 years in power
“Thank you for the trust I received. It is a great honor to be able to lead Finland”, she noted through your Instagram account Sanna Marín on December 10, 2019, when she was taking office as Prime Minister of Finland.
Until then, she had served as Minister of Transport for the government of the Finnish Social Democratic Party, but later she would succeed Antti Rinne in the top position, who resigned after losing support due to strikes in various industries in the country, he stated. Vanity Fair.
Sanna Marín, a 34-year-old mother of a daughter and still single, came to power with a coalition made up of female politicians from a center-left coalition.
He drew the world’s attention for forming an entire young and female cabinet, something still rare to see in 2019 when he took office, just before the pandemic that locked the world up and put his government in check.
But it was not uncommon in Finland. In 1906 it was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote and to have women parliamentarians, long before several Western countries. Furthermore, by 2000 he had already elected a prime minister: Tarja Halonen, seconded by Anneli Jaatteenma.
Globally Praised Management
Only three months after he took power, the covid-19 pandemic was sweeping the world, complicating practically all the governments of the world, who could not prevent the virus from spreading.
However, Sanna Marin and her government stood out worldwide for handling the pandemic.
In addition to confining the country, it activated the Emergency Powers Law, which allowed it to regulate wages and -according to what it saysBBC.“>BBC – require “compulsory implementation of labor to obtain work”, something that had been done for the last time in the Second World War.
Sanna and her women’s cabinet mobilized to ask their citizens to stay home as long as possible, as well as get tested if they had symptoms, even mild ones.
He held meetings with laboratories, clinics and doctors and made daily information for citizens, also accepting questions from children.
His management was put at the same level as those carried out by the rulers of Germany, New Zealand and Taiwan, where male leadership was questioned, considering that the best efforts in covid were made by women.
Although it was not without controversy, since Katri Kulmuni, one of the women in his cabinet and the youngest, left the political nucleus after a scandal over expenses.
a different authority
Sanna Marín was the youngest woman in the world to hold a position of this relevance, but not only did that make her exceptional, but also her life story.
He is the first person in his family to go to university, having been raised by two women: his mother and her girlfriend, whom he joined after divorcing Sanna’s father, an alcoholic man.
She took over as a single mother, after having a daughter with Markus Räikkönen, a former professional footballer whom she met when they were both 18 years old. She married him in a private wedding in August 2020, when she was already prime minister.
“Yesterday we said yes to each other. Happy and grateful to share my life with the person I love. We have seen and experienced much together, shared joys and sorrows, and supported each other through ups and downs. We have lived our youth together, grown up and grown up to be parents of our beloved daughter. Of all the people. You are the only one for me ”, she published on her social networks announcing her marriage.
The young woman, who had been engaged years before, pointed out that it would never be the right time, so she simply married in a private and surprise ceremony, since nobody knew, until it became public.
It is part of the seal of Sanna Marin, who has a private life that she does not abandon because of the position she holds. For the same reason, she had no problem wearing a leather jacket, short jeans and boots to lead the gay pride in Helsinki, she said. vanity.
Sanna Marin’s stamp
When she donned a sequined dress and participated in the Flow Festival in Helsinki, the most important music space in her country, Sanna Marin looked like a rock star and seemed not to fit into the traditional canon of a highest authority in Finland.
Finnish PM Sanna Marin (left) at the Flow Festival pic.twitter.com/ZGcnUn4I5p
— Tom Moylan (@moylato) August 13, 2022
But it often happens that a woman is judged more by her attire than by her ability to work and carry out management.
Sanna Marin knows this well, who, despite refusing to put aside her private life, is constantly questioned, due to her love of going out to parties, enjoying alcohol and dancing.
Perhaps his biggest scandal is the video that was leaked a few weeks ago, where he was seen dancing with his friends, where he did not let anyone “steal” the dance floor.
He was harshly questioned about the search, which even led him to voluntarily take a drug test to prove that he had not used illicit substances at said party.
“I spent a night with friends, in which alcohol was consumed, but in which I did not use drugs or witness the use of drugs by others”, declared Sanna Marin at the most difficult moment of her management, she indicated ABC.
Finland’s Prime Minister @MarinSanna is in the headlines after a video of her partying was leaked today.
She has previously been criticized for attending too many music festivals & spending too much on partying instead of ruling.
The critics say it’s not fitting for a PM. pic.twitter.com/FbOhdTeEGw
— Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) August 17, 2022
“I spend my free time just like other people my age. I hope that this is accepted”, Marin said, regarding the celebration, in which people as public as her participated, such as a singer, a deputy and television presenters, among others.
Despite the rain of criticism, women from her country took to social networks to upload videos dancing, showing solidarity with the prime minister, amid the controversy.
the scandal continues
Although Sanna Marin defends her right to a private agenda, they continue to leak images of what happens behind the scenes.
That was what happened this week, when the image of two influencers who participated in a celebration discovering his bust. The image revived the controversy that had ended with Marin’s negative drug test.
This time, Marin had to apologize for the situation, stating that “I have not missed a single day of work and I have not left anything to do.”
She also alluded to the opposition, scandalized by the leaking of videos and images that show her at parties. She pointed out that she expects her to value what she does in her work more than what she does in her free time.
The Prime Minister of Finland also took the opportunity to acknowledge that she had a difficult week. “I’m a human being. Sometimes I also long for joy, light and pleasure in the midst of these dark clouds, ”she declared, according to her record. The country.
The situation also opens the debate on the way in which politicians can enjoy their private life, considering that not only their voters depend on their performance, but also the entire country.
“I want to show that there are normal people with normal lives in these jobs,” said Marin enthusiastically when he took office, although over the years he has had to apologize several times for that “normal life.”
Sanna Marin is not the first nor the most “scandalous”
The episode experienced by the Finnish prime minister brings to mind other cases of world leaders in the controversy over parties. Some much more scandalous.
Such are the cases of the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who was sanctioned for having broken the law by participating in Downing Street, the government residence, in a birthday party in 2020, in full pandemic restrictions.
Or Silvio Berlusconi. The former Prime Minister of Italy who was involved in the controversy over parties in which the participation of “sex slaves” was accused.