Vote of confidence | Of the members of the coalition who were absent, only Paula Risikko tells how she would have voted for Rydman

At least three the coalition law refrains from saying what their position would have been for the Minister of Economy Wille Rydman (ps) regarding in a vote of confidencesurvives HS’s round of calls to the coalition MPs who were absent from the vote.

Aura Salla, Sari Sarcoma and Karoliina Partanen do not want to take a stand on how they would have voted for the government partner if they had been able to attend.

“Maybe I don’t have to take a stand on that. That vote was over,” says Partanen, who was at the Nordic Council meeting in Denmark at the time of the call.

The same meeting was the reason for the absence from Monday’s vote.

Paula Risikko instead, he says that he would have voted for confidence if he had made it to parliament. Risikko adds that he would have attended if the continuation of the government had depended on it.

Rydman received the vote of confidence 92–76.

If all the representatives of the parties that voted against had arrived and voted against, the difference would have remained in Rydman’s favor by three votes.

“As a member of the ruling party, you vote for the continuation of the board,” commented Risikko.

“I checked that there were enough people. If the situation had required it, I would have gone to Helsinki,” Risikko says. He was absent for a personal reason.

Nine On Monday, the MPs from the Prime Minister’s party, the coalition, were absent from the scene, when the parliament voted on the confidence of Minister of Economy Rydman and the government. That’s just under a fifth of the representatives of the coalition.

Gone were Salla, Sarkomaa, Partanen and Risiko Pauli Aalto-Setälä, Jarno Limnéll, Susanne Päivärinta, Saara-Sofia Sirén and Elina Valtonen.

All but one of the members of the coalition who were present voted no confidence in Rydman Pihla Keto-Huovinenwho abstained.

On Tuesday, HS reached out to those who were absent to hear why they were absent and how they would have voted.

Aura Salla answered HS’s question by text message. He was away from parliament due to illness, he says.

“I will not take any further position on the matter”, he continues.

Sari Sarkomaa, who missed out due to personal reasons, also wanted to answer questions via text message.

“I have nothing to comment on,” he wrote.

On Monday Rydman’s confidence was voted because Sdp, the Left Alliance and the Greens did about his position an intervening question. The reason for the interim question was Rydman’s harsh criticism of the media, individual journalists and the women who spoke about him to the media, as well as Rydman’s position in the board.

Prime minister Petteri Orpo (kok) has said that Rydman would not be suitable as a coalition minister.

Rydman’s vote of confidence has been voted on during this government period once before, in September 2023, but for a different reason.

At that time it was about the racism debate and Rydman from private messages from a few years ago, in which he wrote, among other things, that he would rather ban people who wear scarves than scarves. There were also racist names in the messages.

In that vote, only three representatives from the coalition were absent: Partanen, Sirén and Keto-Huovinen, who has now abstained.

At that time, Partanen and Keto-Huovinen were absent due to illness in the fall of 2023. Sirén, on the other hand, left the parliament on the day of the vote before the vote. He didn’t when he left answered HS’s question about his position.

Later, he communicated that he was away due to a personal obstacle.

On Monday Sirén also announced that he was absent from the Rydman voting due to a personal obstacle. On Tuesday, Sirén’s assistant said he was in Strasbourg for a European Council meeting. Sirén could not be reached to answer a question about her position.

Limnell and Päivärinta could not be reached on Tuesday. According to Päivärinta’s assistant, Päivärinta was away on Monday for personal reasons. Valtonen’s assistant said that the minister was in Luxembourg at the EU meeting, but no answer to the voting position was received. According to the assistant, Pauli Aalto-Setälä was in Strasbourg at the European Council meeting, but he too could not be reached to answer during the day of the meeting.