Aino-Kaisa Ilona Pekonen (born 24 January 1979 in

Riihimäki Riihimäki (literally "Drying barn hill") is a town and municipality in the south of Finland, about north of Helsinki and southeast of Tampere. An important railway junction is located in Riihimäki, since railway tracks from Riihimäki lead to ...

) is a Finnish politician of the Left Alliance. Pekonen is

Finland's Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothn ...

incumbent Minister of Social Affairs and Health. She has been a member of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

since the 2011 election, and represents the Left Alliance in the municipal council of

. Pekonen originally served as a

practical nurse A licensed practical nurse (LPN), in much of the United States and Canada, is a nurse who cares for people who are sick, injured, convalescent, or disabled. In the United States, LPNs work under the direction of physicians, mid-level practition ...

. She has represented the constituency of Tavastia in the parliament since April 2011. She has previously served both as the chair of the Left Alliance Parliament Group and as a member of the Parliament's Social Affairs and Health Committee. She has also previously been the first deputy chair of the Left Alliance. In January 2016, Pekonen announced her candidacy for the leadership of the Left Alliance. She withdrew from the race on 6 June 2016, after losing the advisory membership vote of the party to

Li Andersson Li Sigrid Andersson (born 13 May 1987) is a Finnish politician who has been serving as Minister of Education since 2019. The leader of the Left Alliance, she has been a Member of Parliament since 2015. She is also the city councilor of Turku a ...

. Pekonen's brother is the actor

Aku Hirviniemi Aku-Heikki Ilmari Hirviniemi (born 5 December 1983, in Riihimäki) is a Finnish actor. Theatre and television Hirviniemi has worked for several theatres around Finland, including Helsinki, Riihimäki, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Hämeenlinna, whi ...

. Both of the siblings' parents are politicians of the Left Alliance.

References

External links

Information on Aino-Kaisa Pekonen on the website of the Finnish Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pekonen, Aino-Kaisa 1979 births Living people People from Riihimäki Left Alliance (Finland) politicians Ministers of Social Affairs of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–15) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–19) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–23) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2023–27) 21st-century Finnish women politicians Women government ministers of Finland