Sanna Marin

Sanna Marin (born November 16, 1985, Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish politician who was the youngest person to serve as prime minister of Finland (2019– ). She became leader of the liberal Social Democratic Party in 2020.

Marin was born in Helsinki, but she grew up in Pirkkala, where she graduated from high school in 2004. Her parents separated when she was very young, and she was raised by her mother and her mother’s female partner. She later studied administration sciences at the University of Tampere (M.A., 2017). In 2020 Marin married Markus Räikkönen, with whom she had a daughter (born 2018).

Marin, who worked in a bakery and as a cashier, joined the youth wing of the Social Democratic Party in 2006, and two years later she ran for a seat on the Tampere city council. Although that bid failed, she ran again in 2012 and was elected. She was made the council’s chair the following year. Marin remained in that post after she ran successfully for parliament in 2015. Two years later she was chosen as the first deputy leader of the Social Democrats, and she also was reelected to the city council. In the 2019 parliamentary elections she retained her seat, and Antti Rinne, leader of the Social Democrats, became prime minister. He named Marin minister of transport and communications.

However, after Rinne’s mishandling of a pay dispute involving the postal service threatened the dissolution of the coalition government, he stepped down, and Marin replaced him as prime minister on December 10, 2019. At the time, 34-year-old Marin was the youngest female head of government in the world. She succeeded Rinne as head of the Social Democratic Party in August 2020. Marin was regarded as one of the more left-leaning members of the party and was admired for her clear thinking and her focus on policy. Her agenda focused on shoring up Finland’s social welfare program and on social equality and climate change issues.

Shortly after assuming office, Marin was confronted with the challenge of responding to the COVID-19 global pandemic, which reached Finland in mid-March 2020. Marin and the Finnish government responded quickly and forcefully, declaring a state of emergency on March 16 and soon thereafter instituting strict border controls, closing schools, prescribing social distancing measures, imposing economic and social lockdowns, and introducing testing, tracking, and, later, vaccination protocols. The government generously funded the medical response and efforts to help support businesses and individuals during the public health crisis. As a result of this aggressive approach, Finland experienced lower infection rates and a quicker economic recovery than many other European countries. Marin was widely praised for her assured handling of the crisis, and at least one opinion poll found that 85 percent of those surveyed approved of her response to the pandemic.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 presented Marin with another huge challenge as the continent faced an existential crisis. Marin led a dramatic Finnish response to the incursion that centred on a decision to join the country’s close security partner, Sweden, in applying in May for membership in NATO. Accession to membership in NATO required the approval of all the organization’s member states, which for the most part came relatively quickly, though Turkey and Hungary proved to be recalcitrant outliers. Hungary, which resented Finland and Sweden’s strident criticism of antidemocratic measures undertaken by its Viktor Orbán-led government, finally relented in late March 2023 and chose to allow Finnish but not Swedish membership. Days later Turkey, which accused Sweden of embracing terrorists through its support of the militant Kurdish nationalist organization, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), similarly chose to permit Finland, but not Sweden, to join NATO.

Although Marin’s stewardship of Finland’s NATO candidacy enhanced her popularity, she had faced criticism at home on other fronts. In December 2021 she was taken to task for having gone nightclubbing after being exposed to a cabinet member who had tested positive for COVID-19. Although Marin (who had been twice vaccinated against the coronavirus [SARS-CoV-2] that causes COVID-19) was initially advised that it was unnecessary for her to quarantine after the exposure, she had missed a subsequent text message reversing that advice. She made a public apology in the wake of the incident. In August 2022 her social activity once again proved controversial. This time a video came to light that showed her singing, dancing, drinking, and partying with friends and celebrities. Critics branded her behaviour as unworthy of a prime minister; supporters dismissed the criticism as sexist, and women throughout Finland expressed solidarity with Marin by posting videos of themselves dancing.

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As the April 2023 Finnish parliamentary elections approached, Marin remained personally popular with many Finns, but support for her party and policies waned. Shortages that were consequences of the Russia-Ukraine War imperiled the Finnish economy, and many Finns were disturbed by the rising cost of living. Marin’s opponents on the political right—most notably Petteri Orpo, leader of the National Coalition Party (NCP), and Riikka Purra, leader of the ultranationalist Finns—accused the Social Democrats of profligate overspending and made Finland’s public debt a central election issue. Beyond the large expenditures that had been necessary to sustain the country during the height of the pandemic, Marin pledged to continue considerable government spending on health care, education, and care for the elderly.

Ultimately, though the Social Democrats increased their representation in the Eduskunta (parliament) by three seats, the five-party ruling coalition headed by Marin came up short in the close election. The NCP finished first, with nearly 21 percent of the vote (good for 48 seats in the Eduskunta, a gain of 10 seats), followed by the Finns, with just over 20 percent (46 seats, a pickup of 7 seats), and the Social Democrats, with just shy of 20 percent (43 seats). The Social Democrats’ coalition partners, the Left Alliance, Green League, and Centre Party, lost 5, 7, and 8 seats, respectively (the coalition’s final member, the Swedish People’s Party, held steady with 9 seats). No party had enough of a presence in the new Eduskunta to form a majority government, but, as the first-place finisher, the NCP (and Orpo) was given the first opportunity to put together a ruling coalition.