Sakari Rainer Puisto (born 19 December 1976 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 ...

) is a Finnish politician. He was a candidate of

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 ...

European Parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...

in 2014 and in parliamentary elections in 2015 and 2019. In spring 2015, he participated in the government negotiations. He worked as a Senior Adviser to former Minister of Employment Jari Lindström in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland. During this time, he especially focused on the asylum seeker crisis as well as education and innovation policy, in addition to economic affairs and employment policy. In 2019, he was a candidate of the Finns Party in Pirkanmaa constituency and was elected to the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. In 1995, Puisto graduated from Sampo upper secondary school in Tampere. After his military service, he moved to Britain to study physical sciences in

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. In 2004, he obtained a Ph.D. degree from Cambridge University. After that, he worked for local companies in South China ‒ in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. Puisto has been a visiting scholar in Cambridge University. In July 2021, Puisto has announced the opportunity to take over as the leader of the Finns 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 2017Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) was established in 1991 as a forum for political dialogue between parliamentarians from the Baltic Sea Region. BSPC aims at raising awareness and opinion on issues of current political interest and ...

(member) 19 June 2019 –, (Chair) 27 June 2019 – * Forum for International Affairs (member) 27 June 2019 – * The Board of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (member) 1 January 2022 – In addition, he is the Chair of the Finnish Parliamentary Friendship Group of Lithuania and the Friendship Group of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Elections

European Parliament elections

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

: 2,684 votes (not elected)

Parliamentary elections

* 2015: 2,762 votes (Pirkanmaa constituency; not elected) *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

: 4,837 votes (Pirkanmaa constituency; elected)

Municipal elections

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

: 508 votes (Tampere; elected) *

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

: 1 431 votes (Tampere; elected)

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puisto, Sakari 1976 births Living people Politicians from Tampere Finns Party politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–23) Finnish expatriates in Hong Kong Finnish expatriates in China