Markus Mustajärvi (born 24 February 1963) is a Finnish politician for the Left Alliance. He represented Lapland 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 2003 until 2023.

Life and career

Mustajärvi was born in

Savukoski Savukoski (; ; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland, Finland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is , which is the lowest in relation to ...

, Lapland. He graduated as ylioppilas in 1982, forestry engineer in 1988 and Master of Social Sciences in 1993, the last degree being from 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 ...

. He was a member of the City Council of

Kemijärvi Kemijärvi (; ; ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the sub-region of Eastern Lapland. History The first permanent settler inhabitant of Kemijärvi was Paavali Ollinpoika Halonen, who moved from the region of Oulu, fro ...

until 2012 when he switched to Municipal Council of Savukoski. On 30 June 2011, Mustajärvi and fellow MP

Jyrki Yrttiaho Jyrki Valto Yrttiaho (4 May 1952 – 17 February 2021) was a Finnish politician and member of the Finnish Parliament The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance ...

were expelled from the Left Alliance parliamentary group because they had voted for a

motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

against the Katainen Cabinet in which the Left Alliance was represented. Mustajärvi and Yrttiaho founded a new opposition parliamentary group called the Left Faction in September 2011. After the 2015 election, Mustajärvi was allowed to return to the Left Alliance parliamentary group. On 17 May 2022, Mustajärvi was one of 8 MPs who voted against Finland joining

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 ...

following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

stating an opposition to making Finland's border "the border between the military alliance and Russia."

References

External links

* 1963 births Living people People from Savukoski Left Alliance (Finland) politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (2003–2007) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–2011) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–2015) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–2019) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–2023) University of Jyväskylä alumni {{Finland-politician-stub