The Finnish far-right party Finns Party is stirring up controversy with one of its candidates for a seat at the upcoming general election running a political ad branded as “racist” by several people and by other political parties.
Laura Jokela is the politician running the ad. She is standing in Helsinki in the next general election, expected in the beginning of April. Jokela uploaded an image on social media with her face divided in two halves. One half had the slogan “You know why” over the party’s logo, while the other half had her wearing a burqa-like cloth with the slogan “East Helsinki. Like going abroad?”
Jokela said that she will distribute the picture around the capital on flyers. She hit back at possible backlash, telling Euronews that “If someone feels that the picture is racist, they can ask themselves why they feel that way.”
The post with the picture had some support, but most online comments were critical. Also political opponents entered the debate, particularly politicians of foreign origin. Local councillor in Espoo for the Social Democrats Habiba Ali told Euronews that Jokela and her party “want the attention, and they want us to react,” adding that anyway “we cannot be quiet about the racism things they are doing, and how they are behaving.”
The populist far-right Finns Party has a history of racists comments and slogans during election, with several MPs, including one of their most popular candidate, having multiple court convictions for racist offences. During the latest European Parliament election in 2019, its youth section commented on a European Parliament’s social media post with two dark-skinned people, telling people to vote for them to avoid Finland becoming like this. The post caused massive outrage and led to the loss of all state funding for the youth wing, which later disbanded.
