Parliament | Halla-aho about his poor success in the presidential election: “Middle finger to those who voted for me in the presidential election”

Basic Finns Jussi Halla-aho commented on the low number of votes he received in the speaker's election, saying that MPs have the right to vote as they wish, but it would be wise to stick to the unwritten rules of parliament.

Halla-aho got the speaker of the parliament in the election only 91 votes. He still got the majority of the votes cast and was elected.

Halla-aho connected the matter to the currently ongoing presidential elections. Halla-aho fell out of the second round of the election after receiving the third most votes.

“I see the protest as a somewhat surprising middle finger to those who voted for me in the presidential election,” he said at a press conference after the election on Tuesday.

Halla-aho thought that this would have an effect on who the supporters of basic Finns will vote for in the second round of the elections. They are opposite Alexander Stubb (cook) and Pekka Haavisto (green).

Halla-aho reminded that 615,000 Finns voted for him in the first round of the presidential election, and some of them are considering which of the remaining candidates they would vote for.

“When it is known from which direction the protest vote took place, I believe that quite a large part [kannattajistani] can read this message,” he said.

Halla-ahoa was not supported by Sdp's parliamentary group, but the protest spread to other groups as well. the chairman of the parliamentary group of Sdp Tytti Tuppurainen according to it, it is questionable whether Halla-aho can function as a person who convenes the entire parliament and is above the day-to-day politics.

Halla-aho's reference to the unwritten rules was related to the fact that parliamentary groups have a long-term agreement according to which the second largest government party gets the position of speaker. It is customary for the groups entitled to the positions of speakers to nominate their candidates, who are voted for by the others.

The biggest recent scandal in presidential elections was seen in 2010, when the then-president of the coalition Sauli Niinistö received only 89 votes in the election. Niinistö was so shocked that he had to give up the whole task, but after a joint consultation with parliamentary groups, Niinistö agreed to continue.

At that time, the protest was due to the fact that some MPs were upset with the parliament's spending discipline and Niinistö's savings.