Riikka Purra (born 13 June 1977) is a Finnish politician currently serving in 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 ...
for the
Finns Party
The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party.
The ...
for the
Uusimaa
Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, He ...
constituency. In August 2021, she was elected the new leader of the party after
Jussi Halla-aho
Jussi Kristian Halla-aho (born 27 April 1971) is a Finnish politician who has served as a member of the Parliament of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and again since 2019, and as the leader of the Finns Party from 10 June 2017
Political career
In 2016, Purra joined the Finns Party as a political planner. She served as a campaign manager for the presidential candidate
Laura Huhtasaari
Laura Huhtasaari (born 30 March 1979) is a Finnish politician, businesswoman and teacher. As a member of the Finns Party, she has represented Satakunta in the Parliament of Finland from April 2015 to July 2019. She was the Finns Party candidate f ...
in the 2018 Finnish presidential election.
She was elected as a Member of Parliament from the constituency of Uusimaa in the June 2019 election with 5,960 votes and became the first deputy leader of the Finns party.
In March 2021, she criticised the government of overspending when it formed a three billion euro support package for municipalities during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Finland
The COVID-19 pandemic in Finland has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths.
On 29 January 2020, the first case in Finland was confirmed, when a Chinese tourist visiting Ivalo from Wuhan tested positive for the virus.
Background ...
.
In July 2021, Purra announced she would be running for the Finns Party leadership, aiming to become the first woman to lead the party. She declared that the party would never participate in a government where it would not be able to significantly change Finnish immigration policy. She was elected leader of the party on August 14, 2021, at the party meeting in
Seinäjoki
Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bru ...
.
Personal life
Purra is married and has two children. She tells her views on immigration were affected after she was sexually harassed in her early teens living in
Tampere
Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...
by persons with a refugee background. She became interested in immigration policy when she read Jussi Halla-aho's blog ''Scripta'' and participated in discussions on internet forums.
Purra has a master's degree in political science and she is completing her PhD studies on international politics at the
University of Turku
sv, Åbo universitet
, latin_name = Universitas Aboensis
, image_name = University of Turku.svg
, motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle''
, established = 1920
, type ...