As a Guardian reader and supporter and a follower of Finnish politics for more than 20 years, I was saddened to read Zoe Williams’ misrepresentations of the Finnish parliamentary election result (Misogyny is a mighty force on the right – just look at the fate of Finland’s Sanna Marin, 4 April).
Sanna Marin was correct to celebrate the electoral process in her concession speech. It was an election campaign fought in a very civilised manner on issues (public spending, the environment and immigration), not personalities. The sharing on social media of some party moments may be fresh in British commentators’ minds, but is already history for most people here. I heard no “party girl” references during the campaign.
The fact that seven of the nine parties returned to parliament (including the Finns party) are led by women was not really remarked upon, as people in Finland across the political spectrum judge their leaders on words and actions, not gender.
Finland generally alternates between left-of-centre and right-of-centre governments. That is a major reason for Ms Marin’s Social Democratic party (SDP) not being the biggest party this time. If the SDP doesn’t join this coalition, it will almost certainly join the government again in four years’ time.
Many Finns are concerned about the speed with which government debt has been increasing. Williams describes the spending plans of the National Coalition party (NCP) as Cameroonian when, even if they were to implement all of them – something that is more or less impossible in Finnish coalition government, where everyone has to compromise – then education, welfare and health policy would still be far to the left of the British centre. Comparisons to the “alt-right” and 1930s fascism are very ill-advised and disappointing.
Paul Fairchild
Seinäjoki, Finland
• As a Finn, I was somewhat offended by your article, which suggested the Finnish prime minister lost the election due to misogyny. I would like to point out that the three candidates who received the most votes were all women: Riikka Purra, Sanna Marin and Elina Valtonen. Marin and her party lost the election because the majority of the people wanted to put an end to out-of-control government spending.
I do want to thank you for paying attention to the election in Finland. But it should be pointed out that women did quite well in it. The new prime minister will most likely be a man, but I would be quite surprised if we didn’t see a female finance minister and a female foreign secretary.
Anna Homén
Espoo, Finland
• You have completely misrepresented the situation here in Finland. Sanna Marin actually won more seats in parliament now than in 2019. The main issue here was the economy, and particularly the national debt. Finns hate to be in debt, and the rightwing parties intend to address it by reducing government spending.
Sanna let herself down by making statements on foreign policy, which in Finland is the president’s responsibility, most recently by offering F18 fighter jets to Ukraine. It was this that caused me to switch from her party to the NCP. Misogyny is not an issue in Finland; we don’t even have separate words for he and she (hän is used for both).
Robin Bailey
Vantaa, Finland
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