{"id":145041,"date":"2026-08-13T12:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T12:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/145041\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T12:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T12:58:11","slug":"coalition-parties-condemn-finns-party-mps-facebook-post-as-racist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/145041\/","title":{"rendered":"Coalition parties condemn Finns Party MP\u2019s Facebook post as racist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finnish government parties have called for action over a Facebook post<\/a> by Finns Party MP Mauri Peltokangas, who asked followers whether they wanted an \u201cAfghan Muslim\u201d as Finland\u2019s interior or foreign minister after the next parliamentary election.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Peltokangas also wrote that the Social Democratic Party would arrange a \u201cquota Muslim\u201d as a minister if it won the election and asked whether a Muslim Social Democrat would represent the interests of \u201cnative Finns\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

The comments prompted criticism from opposition politicians and members of the governing National Coalition Party and Swedish People\u2019s Party.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Education Minister Anders Adlercreutz, leader of the Swedish People\u2019s Party, described the post on Yle\u2019s A-studio programme<\/a> as racist, inappropriate and offensive.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThis creates threats, labels people and talks about them in a contemptuous and inappropriate way,\u201d Adlercreutz said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The National Coalition Party and Swedish People\u2019s Party want the Finns Party parliamentary group to address the case. Adlercreutz said the issue would move to discussions between parliamentary group leaders if the Finns Party did not deal with it internally.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Finns Party parliamentary group leader Jani M\u00e4kel\u00e4 has not committed to such a meeting. M\u00e4kel\u00e4 told Ilta-Sanomat<\/a> that the group would not meet before parliament\u2019s summer recess approaches its end in early September.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The dispute centres in part on whether Peltokangas was referring to SDP deputy chair and MP Nasima Razmyar, who was born in Afghanistan and has said she is Muslim.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Razmyar told Helsingin Sanomat<\/a> that she had no doubt the post referred to her. She called the Finns Party \u201can openly racist party\u201d, while specifying that her description concerned the party rather than its voters.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Peltokangas denies referring to Razmyar.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even remember the whole Social Democrat when I posted that,\u201d he told MTV Uutiset<\/a>. He also defended his references to nationality and religion and questioned why mentioning them should be considered racist.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Peltokangas told Yle<\/a> that \u201cquota Muslim minister\u201d was an expression referring to what he described as SDP election advertising directed at Muslim voters. He also said a Muslim Social Democrat might represent the interests of native Finns.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

SDP chair Antti Lindtman has called on Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Finns Party chair and Finance Minister Riikka Purra to respond.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lindtman told reporters in Lahti that government parties should not allow the case to pass without action.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Criticism has also come from National Coalition Party politicians.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Environment and Climate Minister Sari Multala called Peltokangas\u2019s comments \u201cdisgusting\u201d on X<\/a> and said politicians should not have their competence or motives judged on the basis of ethnic background or religion. She called on the Finns Party leadership to intervene.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Peltokangas responded by challenging Multala to identify where he had assessed any politician\u2019s competence or motives on those grounds. He said his Facebook post posed questions rather than expressing an assessment of an individual politician.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Defence Minister Antti H\u00e4kk\u00e4nen said<\/a> criticism should not turn into inappropriate personal attacks. National Coalition Party MP Jukka Kopra said<\/a> Peltokangas\u2019s writing was inappropriate and inconsistent with the standing expected of an MP.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Peltokangas chairs parliament\u2019s Administration Committee.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The row also places attention on relations between the Finns Party and its coalition partners. The National Coalition Party, Swedish People\u2019s Party and Christian Democrats have said responsibility for dealing with Peltokangas\u2019s comments rests with the Finns Party.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

HT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finnish government parties have called for action over a Facebook post by Finns Party MP Mauri Peltokangas, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[87],"tags":[47483,158,303,308,113,69169,47842,3926,24795,69170,305],"class_list":["post-145041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-helsinki","tag-anders-adlercreutz","tag-finland","tag-finland-politics","tag-finns-party","tag-helsinki","tag-mauri-peltokangas","tag-nasima-razmyar","tag-petteri-orpo","tag-racism","tag-sari-multala","tag-sdp"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117088322057666415","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}