Paavo Erkki Arhinmäki (born 13 December 1976, in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) is a Finnish politician and Helsinki Deputy Mayor for Culture and Leisure since 2021. He was 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 P ...

from 2007 til 2021 representing the Left Alliance, a party whose leader he was from 2009 until 2016.

Early life

Arhinmäki grew up in

Pasila Pasila (; , ) is a part of Helsinki, Finland, that is both a central-northern Subdivisions of Helsinki, neighbourhood and district, bordering the areas of Alppila to the south, the Central Park (Keskuspuisto) to the west, and Vallila to the east ...

, Helsinki.

Career

He was first elected to the Finnish Parliament in the 2007 election and re-elected in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. 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 ...

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 by ...

projects in Finland in the wake of the

Great Hanshin earthquake The Great Hanshin Earthquake (, ) occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region of Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum intensity of 7 o ...

. After the 2011 election, the Left Alliance became a partner in the six-party grand coalition

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

led by

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously prime minister of Finland f ...

. 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 Li Sigrid Andersson (born 13 May 1987) is a Finno-Swedish politician who served as Minister of Education from 2019 to 2023. A former leader of the Left Alliance, she was a Member of Parliament from 2015 to 2024. She is also a city councillor o ...

Criminal conviction for the act of graffiti in 2023

In 2023, Arhinmäki, now the deputy mayor of Helsinki, was caught with another person painting graffiti that included the words "world domination and great career moves" in English on the walls of a train underpass in eastern Helsinki on Midsummer Eve. He subsequently apologized and was fined 2,520 euros by a court in January 2024.

Personal life

Arhinmäki is publicly an active supporter of the Helsinki-based clubs FC Jokerit and HC Jokerit, and has been part of the ultra supporter group 116% boys. He has also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

for

SAPA Sapa or Sapë may refer to: Places * Sapa, Mississippi, a community in the United States * Sa Pa, a district-level town in Lào Cai province, Northern Vietnam ** Sa Pa (ward) ** Sa Pa (ward), Sa Pả (ward) * Sapë, a town in Albania * Roman Cath ...

.Sakari ”Sakke” Nieminen 30-vuoden yhtäjaksoisen SAPA-uran jälkeen eläkkeelle: ”Lopettaminen on hieman haikeaa”
sapa.fi, 26 October 2018

References

External links

Parliament of Finland: Paavo Arhinmäki
1976 births Living people Politicians from Helsinki Left Alliance (Finland) politicians Culture ministers of Finland 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) Candidates for President of Finland SAPA (football club) players {{Finland-politician-stub