Laura Huhtasaari (born 30 March 1979) is a Finnish politician and teacher. As a member of the

Finns Party The Finns Party ( , PS; , Sannf), formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The party achieved its electoral breakthro ...

, she has represented

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish language, Finnish and Swedish language, Swedish, ; historically ''Satacundia'') is a Regions of Finland, region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland ...

in the

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

from April 2015 to July 2019. She was the Finns Party candidate for the 2018 Finnish presidential election. In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Huhtasaari was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

with 92,760 votes

Life and career

Huhtasaari graduated as Master of Education in 2004. She has worked as an elementary teacher and a special education teacher. She was elected to the City Council of

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

with 1,064 votes in 2012 and again with 2,566 votes in 2017. She stood in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

and received 9,132 votes but was not elected. In 2015 Huhtasaari was elected to the Parliament with 9,259 votes. In the Parliament, she is currently member of the Legal Affairs Committee, the Education and Culture Committee and the Finnish Delegation to the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...

. Huhtasaari endorsed

Jussi Halla-aho Jussi Kristian Halla-aho (; born 27 April 1971) is a Finnish politician, currently serving as the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland since 2023. Halla-aho has served as a member of the Parliament of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and again since 201 ...

for president of the Finns Party. She was elected first vice president of the Finns Party on 10 June 2017, the same day when Halla-aho was elected president. On 4 August 2017, Huhtasaari was chosen as the presidential candidate of the Finns Party. In the election, Huhtasaari placed third with 6.9 percent of the votes, while the incumbent president

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (, born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who served as the 12th president of Finland from 2012 to 2024. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Party (NCP) from 1994 to 2001, Mini ...

went on to secure his second term with a majority of votes. She was elected to the

in the

2023 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 2 April 2023 to elect members of the Parliament of Finland. Following the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, 2019 election, the Social Democratic Party of Finland, Social Democratic Party (SDP) ...

Views

Huhtasaari believes that the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

is going to collapse and Finland should leave the EU. She accused the EU of trying to turn itself into a state, which she described as a threat to Finnish interest, sovereignty and democracy. She also suggested that Finland withdraw from the

Ottawa Treaty The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of 1997, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine ...

and

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...

, and ban

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

from the country. Huhtasaari opposes Finland becoming a member of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

but supports developing cooperation with the alliance. She is a supporter of

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. As a Eurosceptic, she strongly defends the

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

decision. She also believes that the president of Finland should have more power. After the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

, Huhtasaari tweeted that "USA is now a communistic nation". Huhtasaari has also said that "feminists today loath Jewish-Christian culture and they hate white Christian men". Huhtasaari is a creationist and believes that

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

is a "totally impossible theory". She has also said that Finland should reject international agreements to prevent

economic migrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

s from coming to Finland.

Thesis plagiarism

During the 2018 presidential election campaign, Huhtasaari was accused of plagiarising parts of her 2003 M.Sc. thesis. The matter was investigated by her

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

, the

University of Jyväskylä A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". U ...

, with the conclusion that only 10 per cent of the thesis was plagiariased, and that the plagiarism was not particularly serious considering the policies of the university at the time. However, in May 2018, Finland's national

public broadcasting Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

company

YLE Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

reported that approximately 30 per cent of the thesis was plagiarised, after an YLE journalist identified a previously unknown source for the text in Huhtasaari's thesis. Huhtasaari responded by claiming to have written the dissertation in good faith, relying on any shortcomings being detected during the review process. She also claimed to have followed the university's own guidance regarding citing of earlier theses, namely that such citations were (allegedly) advised against, as dissertations could not be guaranteed to be of sufficiently high academic standards. To defend her integrity, Huhtasaari published a positive employment certificate for her 1-year-tenure as a second-grade teacher at an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

from April 2000. The University of Jyväskylä released its detailed report in August 2018, finding serious plagiarism and disregard for the

scientific method The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...

throughout Huhtasaari's thesis. As the statute of limitations had passed, the university will not pursue further action.

Elections contested

Presidential elections

Parliamentary elections

European Parliament elections

Municipal elections

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huhtasaari, Laura 1979 births Living people Critics of Islamism People from Mänttä-Vilppula Finnish anti-communists Finnish Lutherans Finns Party politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–2019) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–2023) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2023–2027) MEPs for Finland 2019–2024 Candidates for President of Finland Women members of the Parliament of Finland 21st-century Finnish women politicians Christian creationists University of Jyväskylä alumni