Sanna Marin: How her legacy will alter Finland's course for generations to come

At just 34 years old, Sanna Marin became the world's youngest prime minister when she was elected to Finland's top job in 2019.

Rising through the cracks of a government crisis, she skyrocketed into international fame with her coalition government headed solely by women.

She became a symbol of a new generation of progressive millennial politicians and spoke extensively about her socialist views.

"The strength of a society is measured not by the wealth of its most affluent members, but by how well its most vulnerable citizens are able to cope," she said upon election.

"The question we need to ask is whether everyone has the chance to lead a good and dignified life."

Just weeks after her election, Marin said her government would make economic stability a focus.

Two months later, the pandemic all but shut down the world.

In the time since, she captained the country through the pandemic with moderate success compared to some European neighbours.

All the while, she has carried the cape of feminism, swatting away questions about her fitness for office over her age, gender, background and social life.

However, it is an achievement formally recognised as she departs office, Finland's welcome into the NATO alliance, that sheds a long-held tradition and changes the course of her country's international reputation for generations to come.

But criticism over her government's spending would eventually be her party's undoing, and Marin's personal popularity was clearly at odds with that of the party she represented.

Humble beginnings

Marin's humble beginnings undoubtedly shaped her political vigour.

Though she was born in Helsinki, Marin spent the vast majority of her childhood on the outskirts of the inland city of Tampere, moving there at the age of two when her parents separated and her mother moved in with her same-sex partner.

It would be another three decades before marriage equality would be passed in Finland, and in adulthood, Marin would reflect on her childhood in a rainbow family coloured by social isolation.

"Everyday life was pretty much the same as in most families. At home, we cooked, watched TV and fought over cleaning our own room or doing our homework. The feeling of isolation lived outside the home. Our family was different; in some way abnormal and wrong. We had no social status, no official name, not equal recognition as a family," Marin said in a magazine interview in 2011.

She has often spoken about how her working-class upbringing and being the first in her family to graduate high school and university influenced her politics.

"I'm extremely proud of Finland. Here, a poor family's child can educate themselves and achieve their goals in life. A cashier can become even a prime minister," she said on Twitter, referencing disparaging comments from an Estonian minister about her retail job as a teenager.

Her political drive was evident from very early on. For a feature article published when Marin became Prime Minister, one of her primary school teachers recalled the time she organised a protest against logging near the local nature reserve.

In the same publication, university peers remembered having fierce debates with her over the ruling government, a right-wing coalition at the time.

During her tertiary education, Marin became heavily involved in local politics, and it surprised no one who knew her when she became an MP in 2015 in the party she would go on to lead in just four short years.

Rising through the cracks of a crisis

Marin's rise to leadership came through the cracks of a crisis engulfing the SDP.

In 2019, thousands of postal workers across Finland went on strike over a pay dispute.

Then-prime minister Antti Rinne was widely criticised for his handling of the situation, in which he spread misinformation about the pay contracts at stake.

In response, transport unions joined the strike action in solidarity with their postal counterparts, grinding the nation to a halt and forcing Rinne's resignation.

Then the transport minister, Marin was elected by the party to take over the leadership, becoming the world's youngest prime minister at the time, and Finland's youngest in history.

Waving the flag of feminism

Throughout her four years at the top, Marin regularly challenged outdated gender norms and expectations in both words and actions.

In building her government, Marin negotiated the creation of a coalition of five parties, all headed by women, three of whom were under 35.

She first attracted international headlines for breastfeeding her daughter in parliament and championing parental leave.

When led to comment on how her age or gender might impact her leadership, Marin dismissed suggestions they had any effect on her job.

"I have never thought about my age, or my gender. I only think about the issues which made me engage in politics," she told Finnish broadcaster YLE upon election.

On a diplomatic trip to New Zealand, both Marin and former prime minister Jacinda Ardern embarrassed a reporter who questioned whether the pair was meeting due to their similarities in age and gender.

"I wonder if anyone asked Barack Obama and John Key that?" Ardern retorted.

"We are meeting because we are prime ministers," Marin continued.

A different kind of 'partygate'

Many may remember Marin best for her defiance in the face of criticism over her social life, but the scandal had less of an impact domestically than it did internationally.

Last year, Marin made headlines around the world when videos leaked of her dancing drunkenly with her friends at a party.

At first, she was criticised by media at home and abroad for her behaviour, which commentators labelled unfit for the leader of a country.

Marin steadfastly defended her actions as an example of having a work-life balance and maintained alcohol was the only drug in circulation that night.

"I danced, sang, and partied - perfectly legal things … I have a family life, I have a work life, and I have free time to spend with my friends. Pretty much the same as many people my age," Marin said.

By and large, she was celebrated for her spirit, and a social media hashtag soon followed as hundreds of women filmed themselves dancing in support of their prime minister.

Professor of World Politics at the University of Helsinki Teivo Teivainen said the event did not have much of an impact in the way of political polling and instead simply reaffirmed existing opinions.

"People who liked her party or liked her would defend her, you know, 'Let her party', '[the criticisms are] patriarchal and politicians have always been drinking' and whatnot," he said.

"And people who disliked her probably hated her more than before, like, 'Oh, look at this irresponsible woman, you know, going to parties, and there's a war going on. What if Russia attacks at 2am?'"

Many of those calling Marin irresponsible were her political opponents, and to assure them nothing untoward had occurred, she took a drug test (which came back clean).

It was not the first time partying had gotten Marin in hot water. In 2021, she became a close contact with Covid-19 when her foreign minister tested positive.

Instead of self-isolating that night, Marin went clubbing. The text message advising her to isolate had been sent to her work phone, which she had left at home.

Finnish guidelines at the time allowed double-vaccinated individuals to avoid isolation, but there was separate advice for members of the government recommending they limit social contact following exposure.

Marin apologised for the incident and said she should have double-checked the guidance that applied to her.

A new dawn for Finland's international relations

The fears of Russia attacking in the middle of the night used as a criticism of Marin's lifestyle were based on a genuine concern that faces the population as Russia wages war in Ukraine.

Finland was once part of the Russian Empire and only made its independence following Russia's global defeat in World War I. Russia then invaded Finland during the Second World War, sparking conflict reminiscent of the events in Ukraine today.

Life under the Russian thumb remains within living memory, and many Finns are worried history could repeat itself.

When Marin took office, Finland had for decades been operating under a strict policy of international peace and of not aligning its military with any other country.

This policy was borne of a Cold War-era deal with Russia that allowed Finland to self-govern in exchange for its neutrality.

When Russian troops entered Ukraine, Ms Marin was faced with a problem. Continue the legacy of peace and risk fending off Putin's troops without any support? Or ditch the policy and make Finland's application for NATO, which would guarantee military support but puts Finland on the front line if Russia launches a war against the alliance?

Very quickly, the public support for NATO shifted, from one-third of Finns keen on the alliance in 2018 to over 75 percent in 2022.

"There was a big change in public opinion from the majority being against NATO membership to a very large majority being for NATO membership after February last year," Teivainen said.

Under the leadership of Marin and Finland's president Sauli Niinistö, Finland's application was made in May 2022, and after some heel-dragging from Türkiye (over some people of interest to the government living in Finland) and Hungary (over Finland's condemnation of its treatment of its LGBTQIA community and EU sanctions over the issue), Finland's application was ratified and it joined the bloc just under a year later in April 2023.

Marin celebrated her country's admission to the military alliance, which became official the day after her election loss, posting on Twitter that Finland was entering "a new era".

A tight race brings Marin's leadership to an end

In the end, less than 1 per cent of voters on election day brought Marin's leadership to a close.

While Marin remained relatively popular among the Finnish voters, it was her party's stance on the economy that became their undoing.

Like many governments the world over, the Covid-19 pandemic forced an increase in government spending to prevent a total collapse of the economy.

When she took office in 2019, the Finnish debt ratio was still around 64 percent of gross domestic product. In 2022, it increased to 73 percent.

That figure, Teivainen said, is still relatively low compared to Finland's European neighbours, however, it was high enough for Marin's political opponents to campaign on.

"The criticism from the right has been more about that her electoral discourse seems to show no signs of any fiscal discipline, and therefore, what was perhaps necessary during exceptional times (the pandemic) should be curbed so that the deficit and debt of the state and all that would not spiral into something that will be bad in the long term."

But Marin's defeat still came with a win. Her party was the first in 20 years to increase the number of seats while campaigning for a prime minister's re-election.

"In Finland, you normally go down in popularity if you are the party of the prime minister," Teivainen said.

"It was the first time since 2003, and even more significantly now than then, that the governing party, the prime minister's party, gets an increase in votes and seats in the election compared to four years before in the political electoral cycle."

Since the loss of the election, Marin has stepped down as leader of the SDP and will serve as an MP.

"Now is the time to get in line again and leave the chairman's place," she said.

"I will start my work as a member of parliament next week, and I hope I can also lead a calmer life."

- ABC