Paavo Erkki Arhinmäki (born 13 December 1976, in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
) is 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, a member of the
Finnish Parliament
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 a former Minister for Culture and Sport, representing the
Left Alliance, a party whose leader he was from 2009 to 2016. He was first elected to the Finnish Parliament in
the 2007 election and re-elected in
2011. Arhinmäki has been a member of the
City Council of Helsinki
The City Council of Helsinki (, ) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland. The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport.
The 85-seat Council's members a ...
since 2001. He led the
Left Youth in 2001–2005. He proposed a halt to
nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...
projects in Finland in the wake of the
Great Hanshin earthquake
The , or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region known as Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and ha ...
.
After the 2011 election, the Left Alliance became a partner in the six-party grand coalition
cabinet led by
Jyrki Katainen. Being a football enthusiast, Arhinmäki became Minister for Culture and Sport and the party gained another ministerial portfolio as well. The decision to join the government created a split in the party, leading to the expulsion of two MPs from the parliamentary group. Later Arhinmäki became the subject of media criticism after a drinking binge at the Sochi Winter Olympics in February 2014. In 2014 Left Alliance left the cabinet over a dispute on a package of spending cuts and tax rises.
In 2012 Arhinmäki was a
Left Alliance candidate in the
Finnish Presidential Elections, finishing 6th with 5.5% of the total votes in the first round of voting.
In April 2016, Arhinmäki announced that he wouldn't seek another term as the party leader. On 11 June 2016, he was followed by
Li Andersson.
References
External links
Parliament of Finland: Paavo Arhinmäki
1976 births
Living people
Politicians from Helsinki
Left Alliance (Finland) politicians
Government ministers of Finland
Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–11)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–15)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–19)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–23)
Candidates for President of Finland
{{Finland-politician-stub