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.
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| 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.
