Soini ready to accept Portugal bailout

In a surprise announcement on Finnish YLE TV1, the anti-EU, anti-euro True Finn leader Timo Soini stated he is willing to approve support to Portugal, if it means he will get into the governing coalition. Looks like the famous Soini opportunism scores one for the common good for once. Soini had earlier stated that he would "in no circumstances" accept "any kind of bailout for Portugal or any other indebted nation" but hey, this is his only shot at a ministerial post, ever. He's not going to pass that up.

Soini said there is no way to keep the position they had prior to the elections, which unsurprisingly is causing quite a bit of a stir in the rank and file of True Finn members, who are now openly calling their once-infallible leader a turncoat. At least online, that is. I have previously blogged about the challenge facing Soini in keeping control of a party with practically no official party line, and very powerful internal anti-EU, anti-immigrant factions. It remains to be seen if Soini is up to the task, but we are most definitely going to see some unusual political maneuvres in the party's internal politics.

I love the EU and the Portugal bailout is a dream come true!

Soini did not comment on his possible presidential candidacy, saying its a matter to be decided either in the True Finn party general assembly in June or more likely later in autumn. The former speaker of parliament, Sauli Niinistö of the ruling National Coalition party meanwhile seems a shoo-in for president in 2012, with the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat getting a whopping 56% support for him in their poll. If I was to make a prediction, they're going to run a anti-immigrant candidate to satisfy the powerful halla-ahoist racist fringe, not get past the first round of presidential election and support Sauli Niinistö in the second.

Yet another True Finn MP spews racist garbage

It was reported today in Kotimaa24 of all places, that yet another True Finn MP has been caught spilling racist garbage. Mika Niikko, a newly elected True Finn candidate from Vantaa was reported to have removed some pretty nasty stuff from his Uusisuomi-blog. Thankfully it was relatively easy to find, here's the original on pastebin for your viewing "pleasure", and here's my attempt at a translation. I've tried my best to be true to the 'ebonics' of Mr Niikko.

Immigration policy is such a hard sport that no matter what you say, ten people are against you and another ten on your side. Something needs to be done though, inaction is the worst option, because it doesn't actually reduce anti-immigrant sentiment. In Finland we need to take heed from countries where immigration has been practiced longer and in a greater extent than us. If there are good experiences lets talk about them and if bad, let's ignore them. No wait the other way around, i dunno. Here's Ibrahim who has more experience:

Dear Brutha!
Now I's decide to write youse, so y'all can tell me illiterate family about me's. I's been in finland for many years now. I's good. I's got my own family. Finnish girl. She get baby and me get moneys from finland state. Need camel-boots shoe. But wife a witch, take a magic pill and, no get baby, me no get shoe. I's fixin' a find another wife, who no witch.


then I's get me a job here, watching finland man work. Then I get tired. But I's go to a good immigrant doctor. He say I's have a culture shock for watch work 2 much. Now I's working at the folks pension business. Good business. No much work, jsut get money. Sometime me work in another company, social security fund, but there be a lotta queue there. me want own office, better service.


Finland men stupid. They's always be working. No get crazy even though me go say hi to him wife. he say democracy. he only get mad if keep chicken in flat. only young man spikey hair get mad, he no like me touching him girl. make a lot of noise. then the police come take him angry man away. If we refugee rape a finn girl just a little, only get fined, and business pays. finn racist get many times fine when no let refugee in a resteaurant. Finland a safe counfry, very good.


I's got a nice flat. only us foreigners be with a nice flat.Finland good people but little stupid. don't let keep goat or chicken in flat. Finland man no make as much money as we's make. he just work lots. all day he make little bit money that go to the state, who give money to mine business. It be well good. if you no like wallpaper or kitchen cabinet, just make a mess, kick door off
Turku is a good city. Get reward for refugee treatment.

I's thinking yous all family to come to Finland. just ask plane ticket from finnish red cross. they gather money door to door for your plane tickets. Finland be cold, but my business be buying you new clothes. Finn don't buy warm clothes, only white be don johnson who afford warm cloth, but he foreing too.

They's build new houses by the river. it very expensive. we get it for whole family. finn family no afford to stay, we get it, I's going to speak to my business. I hope y'all can come. Y'all probably over 120 now. If youse got AIDS or Heptaitis, come here. My business the Finnish folk pension fund  be paying you to treat you. Welcome to turku finland.
regards, Ibrahim.

This humoristic depiction of immigration is of course not 100% accurate, but certainly representative of Finnish people's feelings regarding entitlements to immigrants, which often exceed those of a native Finn. Well, what should be done will be figured out in the next Governing coalition, if it is to be figured out.

Yeah, not racist at all. Certainly falls into the category of "good natured fun." Mr Niikko blogged today in defense of his previous posting, saying if you remove the part where he quotes Ibrahim it's not that bad. I disagree with him, I think people are deserving of seeing this masterpiece in all its glory, uncensored. It's going to be a fun four years with these clowns in power.

Please welcome Teuvo Hakkarainen

The True Finns have a new man of the people, who's been busy making waves all over the news, and it's only his third day! Teuvo Hakkarainen, a newly elected lumberjack cum MP from Keski-Suomi constituency is anything but ok.

Dressed to impress, first day in office

His first day in office he was trailed by the Helsingin Sanomat, and they recorded and subsequently released a video, which I just found some kind soul has even subtitled in English! Enjoy.

Showing up to parliament looking hung over in a crumpled suit and the loosest tie, rambling incoherently about "nig**rs" was only the beginning, though. For most Finnish middle-aged men it would probably mean a short trip to the local police station, but getting elected does have its few perks. His comments prompted a Finnish footballer with immigrant backround to threaten to kick his ass the next time he sees him, and Hakkarainen swiftly made  a personal apology. You might be interested as to why such a colourful person gets elected and the reason appears to be: his name was the first in the True Finn list of candidates in his constituency.

Then it came to light that Haka-Wood, the lumber yard he owns received €461,750 of support from the European Union's development fund. He has on his internet pages previously described the European Union as a "system of slavery" and "economic bondage" and is reportedly very much against bailing out countries like Portugal and Greece who don't pull their own weight. His lumber yard is also several hundreds of thousands into the red for a few years now, and has suspiciously caught fire several times in recent years. Six times to be precise. Gosh I hope he was insured...

I wish Teuvo Hakkarainen a very productive four years in parliament, and I sincerely hope that he proves to be every bit as colourful as his first three days lead me to expect.

Halla-Aho takes lead of parliamentary committee, so does Niinistö

Every single news outlet reported today that Finland has its first openly racist leader of a major parliamentary committee. The governmental committee in charge of things such as immigration, weapons policy and police force will be chaired by none other than our friend, blogger and popular racist Jussi Halla-Aho. Another confirmed committee chair from the True Finns is Jussi Niinistö who will chair the defence committee. No argument here about Niinistö, whose credentials in matters military or political can hardly be questioned. His judgment maybe, but not his credentials.

*places hand on forehead* "It is... relieved"

But all may not be as bleak as it seems, since this most likely means that the easy path into ministership ends here for Halla-Aho. It is not possible for one to hold a committee chairmanship as well as a ministerial seat in the Finnish system. It is expected that the True Finn leader Timo Soini, who is at this writing the chair of the foreign relations committee, will resign his seat in order to take up a ministerial role in the near future, but Halla-Aho blogged recently in a rare moment of honest introspection that he would not in fact be qualified for a ministerial role. According to his post he prefers to stay quote unquote behind the scenes. And it is there where he truly belongs, I'm inclined to add. In all seriousness though, let's do as Halla-Aho's blog requests and not contact him or criticise him. In fact, let's forget all about him and let him become a faceless bureaucrat in a machine he pretends to rage against.

In fact it is not likely that Jussi Halla-Aho will influence Finland's immigration policy much at all. His post as a committee chair will only grant him influence in as much as getting a deciding vote in case of a tied vote. And even then, his proposed policies would be subject to parliamentary scrutiny and should it come to that, an open vote. If I was to make a prediction, the new National Coalition led coalition will get rid of the immigration ministry entirely, probably merging it with either the ministry of interior or foreign ministry and call it prudence. Should this be the case, the 'halla-ahoist' anti-immigrationist fringe will be contained for at least another four years, perhaps forgotten entirely.

Jussi Halla-Aho disturbed by own writings

It was reported in Die Presse around Easter, that the fresh True Finn MP Jussi Halla-Aho has refused to comment on several of his blog posts. The postings in question concerned his views on, among other things the equality of all people, the proclivities of Somalis for thievery, and also include an old favorite about "the paedophile prophet" for which mr Halla-Aho was convicted in court for incitement against a religious group.

You may have guessed it but Halla-Aho doesn't actually believe all people to be equal. In his blog post he says a person's objective worth in society can be measured by their contribution to the continuation of society. Halla-Aho, who of course is a worthy contributor to society being a researcher of Old Church Slavonic by profession and a well respected member of the Korkeasaari zoo board of directors, says in a proper society people who do not contribute, should not receive support and would presumably go die in a ditch somewhere away from mr Halla-Aho. This actually was an old nazi party programme, but the Nazis considered it too extreme and cancelled it. Coincidentally, of course.

Totally not a Nazi

Halla-Aho was incenced and called the publishing of the things he wrote on his blog "a mud-slinging campaign designed to discredit me." He furthermore challenged the reporters to find the exact sentence "people are unequal" in one of his blog posts. After denying the reports of him writing such horrible things, mr Halla-Aho went on to defend his writings (yes, really), saying they were "general philosophical musings on the objective value of man", and added that the conclusion of his blog post which now evidently does exist was that the cultural value of man is subjective instead of objective, and that "some cultures" place more value on human beings than others. Mr Halla-Aho also refused to comment on the ongoing negotiations on forming a new governmental cabinet and whether he would be available for a ministerial role. God forbid.

Several important parliamentary committees to be chaired by the True Finns

Helsingin Sanomat reported today that several of the more influential committees in the Finnish Parliament is to be chaired by the True Finn party. These include the committee of international relations, defence committee and the governmental committee on police and rescue services. Thus far only confirmed chairperson in the True Finn headed committees is Timo Soini, who will be in charge of the international relations committee.

This development gives the True Finn party a much greater influence in matters of immigration, police services, border control and national defence among others. The parliamentary committees include members from every major party, and the purpose of the parliamentary committees is to prepare the legislation to be passed on to the general assembly for approval. There are 16 permanent committees in the Finnish Parliament.

Let's take a look at future defence minister Jussi Niinistö

True Finn leader Timo Soini has named Jussi Niinistö, professor from the Finnish National Defence University, a possible contender for a ministerial seat. In all probability that would be the defence minister's seat. He certainly has the credentials for it, being a lieutenant in the Finnish Army and a well respected lecturer on all matters military. He was also the True Finn campaign manager in their successful campaign for Parliament 2007 and Timo Soini's campaign for European Parliament 2009. But that's not all there is to Jussi Niinistö, he has another side as well. A dark and hilarious side.

"FINLAND NEEDS YOU" -a really buff version of the 7up dude

According to the newspaper Uusi Suomi, he was a member of the radical "White Culture Front", writing reverent articles for their newsletter on such luminaries as Vihtori Kosola, the leader of the fascist IKL in the 1930s. Mr Niinistö has referred to his involvement with the White Culture Front as a youthful error, and to be fair he was around 20 years old at the time. Be that as it may, a visit to the blog of the far left anti-fascist committee of Finland is highly recommended if not for anything else but funny pictures.

Future gov't cabinet to include True Finns, National Coalition, Social Democrats

It was reported in Ilta-Sanomat today that probable future Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen considers a Coalition government including his National Coalition party, the True Finns and the Social Democratic party the "most likely basis for government."

Lord have mercy on us all

 This coalition, billed the 'blue-red-neck' government by the Finnish public is expected to be announced tomorrow as Jyrki Katainen is holding a speech to the National Coalition party leadership. True Finn leader Timo Soini said today that his candidates for ministerial positions would most likely include former MP Raimo Vistbacka, with 24 years of experience from parliament. Other candidates whose names have been floated around include a former bodybuilder Ritva Elomaa, and blogger and popular racist Jussi Halla-Aho.

Election results are in - Suomen Sisu scores landslide victory

The election results are in, and the True Finns got an even larger landslide of a victory than projected, scoring 19% of the votes and gaining 35 seats in parliament. The result is an upset of massive proportions, as well as the largest electoral victory in Finnish political history. Every party other than the True Finns lost support and the True Finn party now ranks above the current prime minister Kiviniemi's Centre party, giving the True Finns a mandate to govern which will be hard to ignore. They were not the only winners last night, however.

Jussi Halla-Aho on the right

 You may recall I blogged before about Suomen Sisu, a neo-nazi organisation which states it is against race mixing and has a rather dubious literary taste. They have always had political aspirations, but previously their loftiest heights attained were from getting a council seat in the greater Åbo area. They now have four MPs. Blogger and popular racist Jussi Halla-Aho made it through as the second highest voted candidate in the Helsinki constituency after the Left Alliance's Arhinmäki. James Hirvisaari, member of Suomen Sisu who stood court for racial incitement also made it through. Olli Immonen and Juha Eerola, who have actually not got a criminal record as far as I can tell, made it through from the Suomen Sisu members list as well.

Halla-Aho's list of recommended candidates, a sign of things to come

In several recent comments about Halla-Aho and his list of candidates, some revelations have been made recently. It seems obvious that the person writing them has had some unusual insight into the inner workings of the True Finn party so I figured why not translate them here. Here goes.

It has been suspected for a long time that angry, far right young men are infiltrating, and indeed have been for several years, the True Finn party through its youth organisation etc. The idea is to capture an old, established party for their own use instead of trying to form one from scratch. They would establish the anti-immigration policies they want, make their way into parliament and finally get rid of the old, Finnish Rural Party veterans. Entryism is a viable tactic proven in history many times over.

I have been calculating that the change of generation would fall on the True Finns after the parliamentary elections as Soini begins to prepare for stepping down as party head, and the newcomers have established secure positions in parliament, preferrably even in cabinet.

It has also been obvious that Soini is worried about the neo-True Finns at his back, and their intentions. Soini has tried to belittle the Hommaforum cadre as a small group of anoraks and boffins, and is obviously uncomfortable when they are brought up in public.

27th March Soini published in his "plok" a list of his favorite parliamentary election candidates, certainly in the hope of leaving the True Finn party into their safe hands, after moving on to other things. The names on Soini's list are Pekka M. Sinisalo, Osmo Kokko, Pirkko Mattila, Ari Jalonen, Anneli Manninen, Ville Vähämäki and Marke Tuominen.

The competing list from our low profile challenger, Jussi Halla-Aho: James Hirvisaari (member of Suomen Sisu, stood court for racial incitement), Juho Eerola (member of Suomen Sisu), Olli Immonen (member of Suomen Sisu), Heikki Luoto ("Multiculturalism is as desirable as shit in a fan"), Ari Jalonen, Teemu Lahtinen (Suomen Sisu's former chairman), Johannes Nieminen (Suomen Sisu's former chairman, famous for re-publishing the Muhammad drawings), Pasi Salonen (opposed to hate crime legislation because thinks its discriminatory towards White Heterosexual Males and too lenient on gays and foreigners), Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, Maria Lohela and Jarmo Juntunen (filthy rich member of entrepreneurial justice league, convicted of insurance fraud, several traffic violations and wiretapping the police department ; engaged in a massive private war against the Finland justice system on behalf of the Wincapita pyramid scheme). A question arises; if Halla-Aho is not a neo-nazi or not even racist, why does his list contain mostly racist people associated with neo-nazi groups?

summary: this, but somehow even more gay

People on Soini's list are almost completely unknown to people. Not one of them even has an entry on the Finnish language Wikipedia. Halla-Aho's list is more known and wikified. It is obvious to anyone that Halla-Aho's list is going to dominate over the Soini list in the elections.

The internal power struggle in the True Finn party has begun well before the April parliamentary elections. By any reasonable yardstick you would care to use, Halla-Aho has Soini in a choke hold. He has his opportunity, and no matter what you think about him as a person he is not stupid enough to forego taking it.

Soini's conversion confirmed - Halla-Aho ready to split party

Helsingin Sanomat published today the actual comments word for word made by the True Finns' supposed anti-immigrationist, anti-euro leader Timo Soini. And here they are. Make your own mind up about how "twisted and misinterpreted" these comments were by people saying he's accepting the current government line. And bring me some popcorn while you're at it!

Question: Finnish values are important for you, which are those?

Soini: Honesty, hard work, Finnish traditions and also friendship. Everbody is welcome here and we like people. I am, if I am not most international chairman of the whole lot, I am in top three, I am the only one who is working abroad. I have been now being a member of the European Union Parliament. I am also catholic by my religion so I know how the catholic world is thinking and by that I know very many foreign peoples so that is not a problem. But this political uprise here is not because of the immigration. It is because of the (...) fundings in the old and tired parties, which has been going on since 2007 and then of course this Euro, pensions, energy, very many other issues. Immigration is not even talked – not in that panel either – downstairs. And also in all TV-panels, nothing!

Q:  Do you think there are too many foreigners in Finland?

Soini: Of course not.

Q: But you have people in your party that have very hard views on immigration.

Soini: There are some. We have thousands and thousands of members and 240 candidates and maybe 10 people who are having this tougher line. That`s true, yes.

Q: What would you like to change in Finnish immigration policy?

Soini: It has been tightened a lot, because of the pressure from the opposition and also by national coalition party. Has been very good in fact that for example now the number of asylum seekers has collapsed, so the legislation correcting the current shortcomings on this issues have been functioning. I am rather pleased that the situation is now very good.

Q: But would you like to strengthen something if you be in the government?

Soini: I will say that we will follow the government line, that if you are OK with --- for example you are coming and seeking asylum here: if you are meeting the criteria, welcome!

And then blogger and popular racist Halla-Aho's reaction, which is a lol all unto itself:

"I've been betrayed from the start!"

I order you to close your eyes and ears, for we are at war and the enemy is trying to tear our forces apart. Verily, it is for the best to stop reading magazines and turn off your television in these final days. That is, unless you have already cast your vote in the early voting. The True Finn party line can be seen in our manifesto, and Soini's line is readily available online. My line is simple and clear to all my followers. This is what is at stake, in this election...

It has been speculated even before this revelation that Halla-Aho's racist fringe (containing some "colorful characters") is going to split away from the party after the election.  This all but confirms it. We will see if that personal oath of loyalty Soini had his troops pledge to him will come in any use. In other good news today the True Finns polled at their lowest this year, 15.4%. Looks like the downfall has finally come, and its just left to see whether it is Soini or Halla-Aho in the bunker.

Soini's Damascene road conversion on immigration, or is it...?

Timo Soini has embraced the status quo on immigration, Helsingin Sanomat reported today. The move sees Soini give his "full and unconditional support" to the prevailing government policy and practices. The shock revelation represents a complete U-turn for the anti-immigration, anti-EU demogogue. That is, if his statements last night to unnamed German media reporters are to be believed.

"I love immigration and the Finnish system is the best"

Soini proceeded to dismiss immigration as a major issue in the elections, and said his party has "very few" anti-immigrationists. He also distanced himself from "right-wing populism" and defined his political position as somewhere between the Social Democrats and the Centre party. Unconcerned by the recent poll numbers, Soini told the Germans to start preparing to deal with a world-embracing, multicultural and European True Finn party in government. Okay he didn't actually say that last bit but hes still sure to ruffle some feathers among the lunatic racist fringe of his supporters.

Blogger and popular racist Jussi Halla-Aho was quick to do some damage control among the more strident voices in the True Finn anti-immigration wing, writing in a forum post that Soini had given him a "personal reassurance" that his statements to the press had been falsified and misinterpreted. Soini has, according to him also said that he credits Halla-Aho for "inventing the immigration debate", "not being a racist"(lol) and "passing several laws for immigration reform." Halla-Aho of course has not been in a position to neither invent immigration nor pass any laws, being a member of Korkeasaari Zoo board of directors. It remains to be seen if Soini's "personal reassurances" are meant to be publicised anywhere or if they are just meant to appease the more virulent racist fringe among the True Finn voters.

In other news, the early voting for the 2011 Finnish parliamentary elections ended, with 31.2% of voters, around 1.3 million people having cast their vote. 29% of Finnish men and 32% of Finnish women voted, bringing the activity on this round of Early voting well above the elections in 2007 and 2003.

Election violence intensifies - True Finns poll rating continues to drop

According to Helsingin Sanomat today, the True Finns' poll ratings have began to drop in every constituency. The anti-immigrant protest party seems to have lost a lot of its votes to the more traditional working class party, the Social Democrats. The True Finns now rank behind three parties, where just last month they seemed to be on their way to becoming the second largest party. There are a still lot of undecided voters, with up to a third still saying they may change the party they're voting for. The poll by TNS Gallup has the True Finns at 16.9%.

Meanwhile, in Finland violent attacks towards politicians continue. Last night in Jyväskylä a Green Coalition campaign office had its windows smashed in a cowardly attack. The Green Coalition is among the most vocal opponents to the True Finn party. Coincidentally, of course.

windows were smashed in the night by an unknown assailant

The middle Finland town of Jyväskylä was in the 90s known for its active skinhead scene, who made the news on a regular basis with racist attacks towards immigrants and perceived liberals. This week has seen unprecedented violence towards politicians, with a National Coalition candidate being attacked by a thug wearing a bulletproof vest, another National Coalition candidate being punched while handing out  fliers and Centre party candidates' posters being systematically vandalised. So far no True Finn candidates have been targeted by the violence. A neo-nazi group called National Resistance with ties to the True Finns' sister party Sweden Democrats has claimed responsibility for at least one of the attacks. Coincidentally, of course.

A Green candidate's fliers among the shards

The most recent poll ratings from Jyväskylä in the Keskisuomi parliamentary constituency, show that it is likely for the True Finns there to get two MPs in parliament. This is a huge and I mean historically huge gain, because the True Finns have gone from no MPs to polling above the Social Democrats in the space of four years. Just to give some perspective, the Finnish Social Democratic party was founded in 1899, a full 18 years before the Finnish independence. The True Finns got their first MP in 1995.

Halla-Aho receives record donations

Helsingin Sanomat reported today blogger and popular racist Jussi Halla-Aho has received a record sum of donations for his parliamentary election campaign. Halla-Aho received over €60,000, overtaking previous record holder Sauli Niinistö(pbuh) who gathered over €57,000 for his 2007 campaign. Halla-Aho as we all know is a highly respected member of the Korkeasaari Zoo board of directors, while Sauli Niinistö is a former minister and a speaker of Parliament.

"spare some change, pal?"

Halla-Aho received 931 separate donations, with the average being €66 and the largest individual donation standing at €2000. Interestingly, Niinistö received fewer, but considerably larger donations in 2007 with sums ranging from €2000 to €12,000.

One should not be too hasty in drawing conclusions from this, since Finland has no real established political donation culture. It is more than likely that these microdonations are an American import, inspired by the United States Ron Paul and Barack Obama campaigns. I say likely, but there has been a publicised attempt to outright copy the Ron Paul "money bomb" campaign in one of the more active forums of the Finnish anti-immigration scene.

Early voting picking up speed

Early voting picked up speed on day #4, with 93600 people casting their votes on Saturday as opposed to the figure of 73000 in the last election. Looks like the True Finn voters might be out en force! Then again the voting activity figures suggest more women used their vote than men, and it's been found that the True Finns mostly appeal to the white working class male demographic. It will be an interesting election, in any case.

Introducing Juhani Mönkkönen and his campaign

This is apparently old news but I've not previously blogged about True Finn candidate Juhani Mönkkönen and his incredible anti-muslim election campaign. His MO is putting up signs at construction yards saying they're about to construct a mosque there, instead of whatever they might be constructing, with an internet link pointing to his web page.

Islamisation of Finland is obviously a huge problem, with Islamic immigration dating back to 1868 and already almost a full 1% of the population being Muslim, we can safely say Finland will be a Muslim-majority country in the year 9011. Terrifying.

The signs are evidently pretty well made, listing an existing architecture office as the designer and even an electrician. (obviously without the companies' permission). The signs have been taken down a long time ago, so this was just a reminder.

But that's not all, mr Mönkkönen has also been spreading posters about "new neighbours" into flats in the Helsinki area, with house numbers and Arabic names.

Won't you be my neighbour...

But wait, there's even more! Mr Mönkkönen has also launched a website in parody of the Finnish Social Insurance scheme, called "Kelä Gold". It states, surprisingly that our social insurance money goes mainly to Muslim immigrants. This website has been reportedly advertised by spamming people's work email with links to the site, without their permission. When asked where he attained his spam list, he refused to comment on it.

 See if you can spot the difference!

That's right, the "Kelä gold" concept is based entirely on a previous election gimmick by the extreme right Sweden Democrats party. The party is entirely anti-immigration, anti-muslim and has been publicly blacklisted by all the major parties in Sweden, who refuse to even consider working with them. Looks like once again Sweden knows best.

Soini lied about Sandvik's health, but why?

Turns out Timo Soini actually lied on live TV about True Finn party secretary Ossi Sandvik's health problems, Helsingin Sanomat reports. Instead of doing the honest thing and telling people Sandvik's broken a toe, mr Soini went on live television and told people lies about why his party secretary would not attend. Perhaps it is because a broken toe is not really a major health problem, and wouldn't stop any normal person from attending a TV debate. Perhaps it's because mr Soini has become a habitual liar, and needs to maintain an air of invincibility in even minor things like this?

Timo Soini, holding up the True Finns' economic program during debate

This is a fairly major thing,  because it raises the possibility that the True Finns have an incompetent party secretary. He's been avoiding meetings with other party secretaries, the aim of which was to discuss the inflammatory rhetoric of the True Finns and establish guidelines for behavior during the last weeks of election campaigning. It seems brutally obvious that Soini's gang thinks they can operate outside the boundaries of both the established Finnish political culture and good taste.

Ossi Sandvik was named as the True Finn party secretary in 2007. He's a carpenter by trade, and previously a gas station manager. He's also worked as an assistant for the True Finn MP, Raimo Vistbacka. Hardly a glorious CV, but according to Soini the party "needed a full time party secretary", and this was apparently the only person they could find.

True Finns entire party in disarray as popularity in downfall

The True Finns poll ratings continue their downwards death spiral, and at the top of the party chaos reigns. The party secretary Ossi Sandvik has gone AWOL, and stood Timo Soini up at an important election debate last night. Soini claimed this was due to the True Finns wanting to brighten their anti-woman image by having the only True Finn woman in parliament, Pirkko Ruohonen-Lerner appear in the debate instead of mr Sandvik. When asked where Sandvik was, Soini said "Somewhere in Ostrobothnia." The invitation clearly stated however that the debate was for party chairmen and secretaries only, so a very tired-looking Timo Soini was reduced to spout the same familiar slogans for half an hour on live TV, looking very lonely.

Meanwhile "Somewhere in Ostrobothnia"

Timo Soini is reportedly so spooked about the prospect of mr Sandvik or other forces within the True Finn party splitting away from the party that he has made all the True Finn candidates swear a personal oath of loyalty to him. Perhaps the next step is locking himself up into an underground bunker with his truest believers? We can only hope.

The poll ratings keep on falling, despite True Finn candidates continuing to send quasi-illegal campaign material into people's houses. The Early voting activity remained roughly the same compared to previous elections for the second day, still showing no signs of the massive tsunami of new True Finn voters.

Early voting day #1: all quiet on the western front

Day one of early voting failed to bring any change from the previous election. Voting activity remained the same, which would imply that no great tide of non-voters from previous elections is showing up to vote for the True Finns. Early voting started 8am on Wednesday and will end 6pm 12th of April. Early votes will be tallied beginning 3pm on election day, the 17th April.

The Early Voting system has been in place in Finland from 1970. 40% of voters vote early with the remaining 60% choosing to vote on election day. Early voting takes place at designated polling stations.

True Finns' Poll Rating in a Nosedive

The True Finns' poll rating has took a surprising nosedive, down a whole percentage point in one week. This is thought to be due in part of the leader Timo Soini missing several key election debates for reasons unknown. Among one of the several debates that Soini needed to cancel was a debate with foreign minister Alexander Stubb(pbuh) who I previously blogged about completely destroying Soini on live television. Makes you think....

Looks like the election is taking its toll on the 48-year old, hideously overweight man of the people. It stands to reason, then that Soini is ill-equipped to handle the stress of being a candidate, let alone a prime minister. Usually people with Soini's physique take this time of their lives to curl up in a council flat somewhere and drink themselves to death. Something to consider!

True Finn councillor: Holocaust was Soviet Propaganda

Iltalehti reported today that the everyone's favorite anti-immigration immigrant Freddy van Wonterghem thinks "the Holocaust was nothing but Soviet propaganda". You might have correctly guessed from his completely innocent and patriotic opinion there that Belgian-born Wonterghem is, like Jussi Halla-Aho and Teemu Lahtinen, a member of Suomen Sisu, a neo-nazi group based in Helsinki. He is also a True Finn member of the Kotka city council.

Timo Soini of course was quick to deny "any links to any members of Suomen Sisu", despite repeatedly filling his candidate list with their members. Soini says he will only comment on any SS-affiliations of any True Finn members, if one of them is found to be "breaking the law". Previous guilty verdicts for inciting racial hatred that Jussi Halla-Aho and his band of merry men have gathered, evidently notwithstanding.

Iltalehti also reported on the "racist manifesto", signed by some of the more strident voices in the True Finn anti-immigration wing. Teemu Lahtinen and Jussi Halla-Aho are quoted as being 'proud' of inserting the SS-philosophy into the manifesto and getting it signed by a large number of the more mainstream parties' candidates. It is also mentioned that Suomen Sisu used to state on its web page that it is "an organisation committed to anti-miscegenation."

Ridiculous. Just goes to show the True Finns are nothing but a racist group of sexually frustrated men. And that is precisely why they are so dangerous.

True Finn Anti-Women Practices Revealed by MTV3

Former and current female politicians from the True Finn party spoke out about the anti-women atmosphere of a lot of the True Finn party workers. The problems are evident in all electoral constituencies.

Women interviewed say that especially active and outspoken women are in risk of getting into trouble, for disagreeing with the official party line. The party leadership has denied the allegations. You'll remember a previous blog post about Sirkka-Liisa Lamminkoski, a True Finn woman who was pressured into relinquishing her party membership for disagreeing with the True Finn leadership about Modern Art of all things. Five women were interviewed for the MTV3 story.

Haataja: I got made a target of mud slinging

Seija Haataja was a True Finns candidate from the parliamentary election 2007. She thinks she didn't get the support of the Nyland constituency True Finns for her campaign but was instead left to fend for herself. This was mainly due to her positive approach to foreigners.

-In the True Finn party a woman is expected to either submit or be quiet. Otherwise the only way is to rebel and you can guess how that is going to turn out. Troublemakers are either expelled or quit the party themselves, says Haataja.

Haataja, a council member in Vantaa, didn't quit immediately after her failed campaign, but thought about it long and hard. Last spring she joined the Social Democratic party and according to her, got hateful replies from former comrades in internet discussion pages.

-I've let the comments slide because I dislike fighting windmills. I know I'm not the only woman who has faced this treatment in the True Finn party.

Virtala: One is not Allowed to Talk of Problems:

Satu Virtala's decision to quit the True Finn party is a recent one. She quit the party in February, because she was not put up as a candidate from the Kyme constituency. She thinks the decision was unfair.

-There was clearly a good ol' boy network at work behind the decision. A few men have handled themselves in an extremely dubious and calculating way. My family has been threatened, and lies have been told about me behind my back.

According to Virtala, the male members of the True Finns are allowed to  have opinions and do things that would not pass for a female member.

-I don't understand why a woman needs to be a Mother Theresa, or a Virgin Mary, whilst the men are allowed to have any opionions about anything they like. It feels as if the party only allows such women to progress who toe the male party members' line.

Virtala says she has heard of other women who have been expelled from the party due to dissenting opinions.

-One shouldn't really discuss these kind of things before the election. Perhaps later on along the way, things will change, Virtala wishes.

Timonen: I no longer wear my True Finn Armband

Virtala's fellow sister from the Kyme district, Eliisa Timonen is still a party member. She did forfeit her candidacy for the True Finn party not too long ago, though.

-There is no shred of the old True Finn philosophy left in the Kyme district. It feels like the will to power has blinded the eyes of everyone and they are only looking out for number one, Timonen says.

She feels she has been pushed aside several times, when the party has distributed council responsibility.

-It feels as if we're in the dark middle ages. I'm honing my skills as a coffee maker, but have no chance to develop as a political animal. My voters have been left disappointed.

Timonen is not sure if she will run in the next municipal elections. Even though the local constituency has been personally disappointing to her, she still trusts the party leadership.

Lamminkoski: I have never seen such dictatorship

Sirkka-Liisa Lamminkoski, a candidate from the True Finn Vaasa constituency recently criticised the party's cultural political line, and was quickly given a talking to by the party brass.

-It was like an obedience school. I was told I can not have my own opinions, and that I must stop writing for newspapers. I have never heard of such dictatorship in Finnish politics before. I've been a True Finn member for 10 years and the atmosphere has been very free, up to this point, Says Lamminkoski.

Lamminkoski refuses to back down from her opinions, and the dispute has been continued in several newspapers and on the internet, where party members have screamed for Lamminkoski's head, calling for her immediate expulsion from the party.

-Behind the calls for my quitting the party is election tactics and the whole thing smacks of little boys being mad at someone messing with their sandbox games. Truth is though, come at a woman from Ostrobothnia screaming and it's all petrol into the flames, Lamminkoski says.

Lamminkoski and the party brass' argument has caught the attention of other female party members. She has gotten a lot of calls from women who say they've been thrown under the bus. They've sympathised with her and asked how she's handling it all. A lot of them have said they are afraid to take a stand on the issues within the party, if they are actually in an elected office or running for one.

Lamminkoski does not blame the whole of the True Finn party or party leader Timo Soini.

-It is sad, though if we lose out on female talent because of this. We can't afford to lose the female vote, Lamminkoski says.


Puolakka: Straight up male chauvinism

Ritva Puolakka, says the True Finns are 'No different from the old parties they rage against'.

-I thought the party was for freedom of speech. Turns out there is a hierarchy where your opinions only matter in relation to who you kiss up to and how good you are at it.

She left the True Finn party, because she was a target of lies and rumour-mongering in the Oulu constituency.

-It was all straight up male chauvinism in the party. If there's a strong woman who is a member, she is forced out of the party, Puolakka says.

She thinks she was passed up as a parliamentary candidate due to mud-slinging and slander from the male members of the party. There were people listed as candidates instead of her, who were never voted on by the party members, she says.