Finnish parliamentary election – April 19th 2015

[Helsinkian]

Åland 1 seat

To whom?

Mats Löfström, Centre Party of Åland (on the Åländsk Samling list). He will caucus with the Swedish People's Party; he has been an aide to the SPP MEP.

[jaichind]

Åland 1 seat

To whom?

I assume to Åland Coalition

[Helsinkian]

Here's the result from my polling area in Western Helsinki:

National Coalition Party 48%
Green League 14%
Swedish People's Party 14%
Centre Party 6%
Social Democratic Party 6%
Finns Party 5%
Left Alliance 4%
Christian Democrats 1%

[Helsinkian]

Muslims were elected to the parliament for the first in Finland's history. One Social Democrat (of Afghan background, woman) and one Green (of Turkish background, man), both from Helsinki. Both seem to be relatively moderate/secularized.

[ag]

Both seem to be relatively moderate/secularized.

The last sentence is horrible.

[ObserverIE]

The Finnish National Broadcaster YLE has uploaded four-minute interviews from nearly all candidates in the election: over 1,800 interviews all in all. It's quite a project. I wonder, if something like it has been attempted in other countries on such a scale? Finland's open list system of course puts emphasis on candidates in a way that a closed list system does not.

I can put the link here, if someone's interested, but the interviews are of course in Finnish or (in the case of Swedish People's Party and Åland candidates) in Swedish: Election Gallery

Perhaps predictably, the candidates that get the most views are those, who come off as quirky or ill prepared. This Pirate Party candidate from Lapland has gotten more than 200,000 views in the election gallery: video in Youtube with English subtitles (from the subtitle button).

"My pet gerbil used cannabis and died of an overdose. I'd like to have a moment of silence for Tero"

"How big is your budget?" - "Do you mean under the counter?"

"What is the biggest problem in Finland?" - "I am hungry" - "And Finland?" - "I am in Finland... and I am hungry"

LOL

Absolutely brilliant and quintessentially Finnish..

495 votes.

There is no justice.

[politicus]

Both seem to be relatively moderate/secularized.

The last sentence is horrible.

Yeah, moderate secular Muslims are truly HPs

[ObserverIE]

Both seem to be relatively moderate/secularized.

The last sentence is horrible.

Yeah, moderate secular Muslims are truly HPs

I suspect it's the terminology (with echoes of house-training) that ag is complaining about.

[Helsinkian]

Well, what I meant was that they don't seem very religious. Both are liberal on social issues and the woman doesn't wear a headscarf, for example.

[politicus]

Well, what I meant was that they don't seem very religious. Both are liberal on social issues and the woman doesn't wear a headscarf, for example.

Turkish Greenies and female Afghan SDs generally are

[ag]

Both seem to be relatively moderate/secularized.

The last sentence is horrible.

Yeah, moderate secular Muslims are truly HPs

They are ok. The white "Native Europeans" who say such things are, indeed, truly HP.

[ag]

Well, what I meant was that they don't seem very religious. Both are liberal on social issues and the woman doesn't wear a headscarf, for example.

You are talking about a Green and an SD. I do not know, how moderate their views are within the Green and the SD parties: you told us nothing about their attitude to fish stock management, for instance. But you insist on calling them "moderate Muslims", whatever the hell that means. It is, most definitely, of interest that representatives of the immigrant communities have been elected. But they, most certainly, did not run on political Islam. You, probably, know pretty much nothing of their belief (or lack thereof). They may well be, in fact, radical atheists, for whatever you or I know. More than that, you have no clue what "moderate" or "radical" would mean in this setting. Would you talk of a "moderate Jew"? What would that even mean? Non-haredi? Non-Orthodox? Non-Zionist? Should he eat pork? What would a "moderate Catholic" be? Could he believe in transubstantiation, or would it make him radical? If he does, would he be primarily loyal to the Pope or to the country?

Islam is a religion, not a political movement. Most definitely, this is so in Finland. These people are Finnish citizens, who were elected to represent secular leftist political parties: Finnish Greens, not Hesbollah . The very fact that you make a point of saying that they are "moderate Muslims" is insulting.

[ag]

Both seem to be relatively moderate/secularized.

The last sentence is horrible.

Yeah, moderate secular Muslims are truly HPs

I suspect it's the terminology (with echoes of house-training) that ag is complaining about.

It is more than terminology. It is the "Native White" patronizing that is embedded into this. "Good Jews", "good Muslims", "good negroes"... It IS insulting.

[Helsinkian]

Well, I will take back the part about the Green MP of Turkish background being a Muslim. Looking at his social media posts, he describes himself as "not religious in any way". The Social Democrat of Afghan background does describe herself as muslim.

[Tender Branson]

Both seem to be relatively moderate/secularized.

The last sentence is horrible.

Yeah, moderate secular Muslims are truly HPs

I suspect it's the terminology (with echoes of house-training) that ag is complaining about.

It is more than terminology. It is the "Native White" patronizing that is embedded into this. "Good Jews", "good Muslims", "good negroes"... It IS insulting.

ag, please stop your overly political correctness. It's annoying.

There simply are "bad Jews", "bad Muslims", "bad negroes" as much as there are "bad Austrians" and "native Whites".

The fact that you cannot point out to minority problems/crime anymore (that simply exist, no matter how much you want to deny it) out of political correctness is disturbing.

[ag]

ag, please stop your overly political correctness. It's annoying.

There simply are "bad Jews", "bad Muslims", "bad negroes" as much as there are "bad Austrians" and "native Whites".

The fact that you cannot point out to minority problems/crime anymore (that simply exist, no matter how much you want to deny it) out of political correctness is disturbing.

I have never engaged in any "political correctness". I just hate Nazis. Of course, as an Austrian, and, therefore a Nazi yourself, you would never understand this.

[Tender Branson]

ag, please stop your overly political correctness. It's annoying.

There simply are "bad Jews", "bad Muslims", "bad negroes" as much as there are "bad Austrians" and "native Whites".

The fact that you cannot point out to minority problems/crime anymore (that simply exist, no matter how much you want to deny it) out of political correctness is disturbing.

I have never engaged in any "political correctness". I just hate Nazis. Of course, as an Austrian, and, therefore a Nazi yourself, you would never understand this.

I've never read such an unqualified and idiotic post recently ...

[ag]

Well, I will take back the part about the Green MP of Turkish background being a Muslim. Looking at his social media posts, he describes himself as "not religious in any way". The Social Democrat of Afghan background does describe herself as muslim.

She can describe herself anyway she likes. And she can believe in anything she wants I just do not like seeing this

(if Al Smith is elected president):

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/12/10/opinion/sr-smith-img2/sr-smith-img2-jumbo.jpg

[ag]

ag, please stop your overly political correctness. It's annoying.

There simply are "bad Jews", "bad Muslims", "bad negroes" as much as there are "bad Austrians" and "native Whites".

The fact that you cannot point out to minority problems/crime anymore (that simply exist, no matter how much you want to deny it) out of political correctness is disturbing.

I have never engaged in any "political correctness". I just hate Nazis. Of course, as an Austrian, and, therefore a Nazi yourself, you would never understand this.

I've never read such an unqualified and idiotic post recently ...

Neither have I But, at least, you cannot accuse me of "political correctness", anymore.

But what would you think if I wrote about you: "interestingly, though an Austrian, he seems moderate: he does not celebrate Hitler's birthday, for instance; or wear a Tyrolean hat".

[MalaspinaGold]

While ag perhaps overreacted just a little bit, this is why I prefer not to use the term "moderate", under any circumstances.

[Grand Wizard Lizard of the Klan]

Lol, that discussion about political correctness. You guys are a little bit overreacting, he didn't want to insult anybody.

[Nortexius]

Well, what I meant was that they don't seem very religious. Both are liberal on social issues and the woman doesn't wear a headscarf, for example.

Islam is a religion, not a political movement.

Islam does not have a separation between the secular world and the spiritual world as christianity does (Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's). Mentioning that the people in question do not adhere to the political side of Islam is a relevant fact in a political discussion. In Sweden we've had islamist MPs like Mehmet Kaplan (now minister of housing) and Abdizirak Waberi with close contacts to the Muslim brotherhood.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

It's also not really for Helsinkian to say how religious other people seem based on their political positions and sartorial choices, and it's inappropriate to imply that being 'moderate' inversely corresponds to perceived raw level of religiosity, however in the world it's even possible to measure that.

[Gustaf]

Lol, that discussion about political correctness. You guys are a little bit overreacting, he didn't want to insult anybody.

Ok, Jobbik supporter.

Being a moderate myself, I understand Ag's reaction although (as should be obvious) it is in today's world more mainstream to mix religion and politics in Islam than it is in Christianity. So one doesn't have to be a bigot to care about it.

[politicus]

We should just drop the moderate and/or secular vs. fundi and/or Islamist thing and start talking about domesticated versus wild Muslims. Might as well drop that PC nonsense.