BREAKING

Finnish minister resigns 10 days after election over pro-Nazi remark

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
30 Jun 2023 17:12
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Finnish Minister of Economy Vilhelm Junnila resigns despite surviving a no-confidence vote.

Vilhelm Junnila addresses the media in the Finnish parliament in Helsinki, Finland on June 28, 2023. (AFP)

After only 10 days in office, Finnish Economy Minister Vilhelm Junnila resigned, on Friday, due to statements of support for Nazis made earlier.

Member of the Finns Party, which is part of a right-wing coalition, Junnila has taken office on June 20, and on the 30th of the same month, the Minister announced that "for the continuation of the government and the reputation of Finland, I see that it is impossible for me to continue as a minister in a satisfactory way."

Two days ago, on June 28, Junnila survived a no-confidence vote called on by the opposition as he was accused of often making Nazi references.

During his election campaign, public broadcaster YLE saw Junnila felicitate his fellow party member on his candidate number, which was 88. The number has been commonly known to be a neo-Nazi symbol given that the 8th letter of the Alphabet is "H" and "HH" stand for "Heil Hitler".

The symbol has been dubbed by the Anti-Defamation League as "one of the most common white supremacist symbols."

On March 10, at an event, YLE noted Junnila told his colleague, "First of all, congratulations for the excellent candidate number. I know it's a winning card. Obviously, this '88' refers to two H letters which we won't say more about," in his address at a campaign event on March 10.

However, the Minister later apologized for his remarks.

"I condemn holocaust, antisemitism and all antisemitic acts completely," he said on his Twitter account last week.

Haluan täydentää aikaisempia lausuntojani: toivottavasti kaikille on selvää, että tuomitsen holokaustin, antisemitismin ja kaikki antisemitistiset teot jyrkästi ja ehdottomasti.
I condemn holocaust, antisemitism and all antisemitic acts completely.
— Vilhelm Junnila (@vilhelmjunnila) June 22, 2023

In response, MP Hanna Holopainen of the Green Party, the sponsor of the no-confidence motion, explained that "the connections to far-right movements are not a single mistake, misunderstanding or bad humor, but rather repeated, systematic and comradely liaison."