Olavi Juhani Mäenpää (29 November 1950 – 31 January 2018) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

politician and former chairperson of the Finnish People's Blue-Whites (''Suomen Kansan Sinivalkoiset, SKS''), a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

aligned with the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

. He was born in

Tyrvää Tyrvää (; sv, Tyrvis) was a municipality in the Satakunta region, Turku and Pori Province, Finland. It was established in 1439 when the Tyrvää parish was separated from the parish of Karkku. In 1915, the market town of Vammala was separated fr ...

, which later became a part of

Sastamala Sastamala () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Pirkanmaa region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water, making it the largest municipality in the Pirkanmaa region in terms of area. The ...

. Mäenpää was a member of the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, his home city, from the beginning of 1993 until he lost his seat in the 2017 election. In the 2004 municipal election Mäenpää received 2,208 votes, more than any other candidate in Turku. Mäenpää also appeared as a candidate in elections to 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 ...

and the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the 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 adopts ...

, but was not elected. In the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

Mäenpää publicly supported

Ville Itälä Ville Heimo Antero Itälä (born 10 May 1959 in Luumäki) is the Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and a former a Finnish politician. He was elected member of the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) from the district of South ...

of the

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...

. In 2010 Mäenpää joined the Finnish Freedom Party (later known as the

Blue and White Front The Blue and White Front ( fi, Sinivalkoinen Rintama) (formerly Freedom Party – Finland's Future) ( fi, Vapauspuolue – Suomen tulevaisuus) is an ultranationalist political party in Finland which was founded in 2009. History The VP was founded ...

) and the SKS became inactive. After the Blue and White Front failed in parliamentary elections, Mäenpää became the chairperson of the political association ''Suomidemokraatit'' that tried to get registered as an official party but failed. In 2017 the Turku court of appeals sentenced Mäenpää to seven months suspended imprisonment for forgery. This pertained to falsified electoral documents. The original sentence of the district court for Finland Proper was five months suspended. Mäenpää died in Turku.

References

1950 births 2018 deaths People from Sastamala Finnish bloggers Finnish politicians People from Turku {{Finland-politician-stub