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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Finland’s Marin, world’s youngest prime minister

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At 34, Sanna Marin will become the world’s youngest sitting prime minister when she is sworn in by the Finnish parliament on Tuesday, but she is far from lacking in political experience. The former transport minister gained a reputation as a tough, straight-talking operator from her five years as leader of the city council in her hometown of Tampere, where she took office in 2012 aged 27.


Marin’s rise to the pinnacle of Finnish government means that when she takes over as head of the Social Democratic Party next year, women will hold the top job in each of the five parties in Finland’s governing centre-left coalition, and all but one of the leaders are aged under 35.


Marin becomes not only Finland’s youngest ever prime minister, but also the world’s youngest sitting head of government, ahead of Ukraine’s Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, who is currently 35.


After being selected by her Social Democratic party on Sunday to replace outgoing PM Antti Rinne, who quit last week over his handling of a postal strike, Marin deflected questions about her age.


The victory was seen by some commentators as a triumph for Finland’s liberal, equal society over a party which ran on a ticket of cutting asylum levels almost to zero and halting anti-climate change measures.


Since then, however, the polls suggest the SDP has dived in popularity to fourth place while the Finns party, led by hardline former MEP Jussi Halla-aho, has risen to become the country’s most popular party by a margin of five points.


Recent polling suggests that Marin was the most popular SDP politician to become the next prime minister, and she has said that winning back the trust of both the coalition parties and the electorate will be her first priority.


Marin has said that her childhood has strongly influenced her political priorities.


“I am from a poor family and would not have been able to succeed and move forward were it not for the strong welfare state and the Finnish education system,” she told Helsingin Sanomat.


Marin grew up looked after by her mother and her mother’s girlfriend, and said that her ‘rainbow family’ showed her the importance of “equality, fairness and human rights”. In a 2015 interview, Marin said she felt ‘invisible’ as a child, because she could not speak openly about her family setup.


As mother of a two-year-old daughter, Marin said on Sunday that childcare will not interfere with her ability to be prime minister. — AFP


Sam KINGSLEY


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