HELSINKI: Sanna Marin, 34, has been named the next prime minister of Finland after the former transportation minister was elected by her party 'Social Democrats' to the post of the PM on Sunday.
Sanna Marin is expected to take the oath of her office this week. At 34, Marin becomes one of the world's youngest state leaders, ahead of Ukraine's prime minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, who is currently 35.
She will also be the youngest head of government in Finland's history. Sanna Marin narrowly won Sunday's vote to replace outgoing leader Antti Rinne, who resigned on Tuesday after losing coalition partners.
"We have a lot of work to do to rebuild trust," Marin told reporters on Sunday night, while deflecting questions about her age. "I have never thought about my age or gender."
"I think of the reasons I got into politics and those things for which we have won the trust of the electorate," she added. Parliament is expected to formally swear in the new prime minister on Tuesday.
Former Finnish prime minister Antti Rinne had headed Finland’s centre-left five-party coalition since June, and his successor’s appointment is unlikely to lead to significant policy changes by the administration.
“We have a shared government programme which we have committed to,” Prime Minister Marin said. The SDP won April's legislative elections on promises to end years of economic belt-tightening.
Rinne stepped down after several weeks of political crisis over a plan to cut wages for 700 postal workers. Finland’s postal service withdrew the reform plans in November after widespread strikes.
However, questions emerged over whether or not Rinne had previously endorsed the cutbacks, leading to the Centre Party declaring it had lost its trust in the Prime Minister last Monday. —AFP
