Sanna Marin’s ‘partygate:’ A very Finnish scandal

International

-DW News

Brussels,
Aug
20:
Once
again,
Finland’s
Prime
Minister
Sanna
Marin
made
international
headlines.
But
this
time
it
was
with
a
video
showing
her
at
a
private
party,
dancing
with
friends.

What
ensued
was
a
very
classic
“Finnish
scandal,”
which
is
actually
not
a
scandal
at
all,
but
because
Finnish
politics
tend
to
be
so
uptight
and
slightly
boring,
you
have
to
get
creative
to
stir
things
up
every
once
in
a
while.

It
is
at
the
same
time
indicative
of
the
very
high
moral
standards
that
are
applied
to
politicians
and
that
they
are
expected
to
live
up
to.
Consequently,
the
threshold
is
very
low
for
Finnish
politicians
to
resign
over
what
seem
like
rather
insignificant
incidents
elsewhere.

For
example,
in
2008
then-Foreign
Minister
Ilkka
Kanerva
was
sacked
over
a
text
message
scandal:
he
had
been
sending
text
messages
to
a
controversial
female
celebrity.
Sanna
Marin
herself
became
prime
minister
after
her
predecessor
Antti
Rinne
resigned
over
a
scandal
related
to
a
post
office
strike.

Execution
rate
doubled
in
Iran,
says
Amnesty

Marin
and
her
female-led
government
have
been
at
the
center
of
unusual
international
attention
ever
since
taking
office
in
December
2019.
A
2021
study
by
the
NATO
Strategic
Communications
Centre
of
Excellence
found
that
the
female
ministers
of
the
Marin
government
receive
disproportionate
numbers
of
abusive
messages
and
Marin
herself
has
been
frequently
subject
to
domestic
“scandals,”
such
as
posting
certain
selfies
on
Instagram
or
other
party
incidents
that
have
earned
her
the
nickname
“party-Sanna”
in
the
press.

Some
of
the
more
memorable
Sanna
“scandals”
were
“breakfastgate”
over
her
breakfast
expenses
or
the
controversy
over
the
revelation
that
she
likes
cleaning,
even
the
official
residence,
herself.

Criticism
sexist

Much
of
the
rather
absurd
domestic
controversies
smack
of
misogyny,
as
Marin
has
been
leading
Finland
steadfastly
through
several
exceptionally
difficult
situations,
starting
with
the
pandemic
and
now
the
NATO
membership
process.
It
is
a
lot
to
take
in
that
a
competent
prime
minister
can
be
a
36-year-old
woman,
mother
of
a
small
child,
who
despite
having
one
of
the
toughest
jobs
in
the
country,
also
manages
to
have
a
social
life,
go
to
festivals,
and
even
to
party
occasionally.

Usually,
the
domestic
“scandals”
do
not
make
international
headlines.
What
was
different
this
time
was
the
allegation
that
she
would
have
possibly
been
doing
drugs.

It
was
based
on
a
sentence
in
the
leaked
party
video
that
was
misheard
as
“jauhojengi”
(“flour
gang”)
and
interpreted
to
mean
drugs.
In
fact,
Marin
and
her
friends
seem
to
be
singing
along
to
the
lyrics
of
a
Finnish
pop
song
that
mentions
“jallu,”
a
Finnish
alcoholic
drink.
No
one
would
call
drugs
“flour”
anyway
in
Finland,
which
makes
the
whole
business
even
sillier.

Misinformation
spreads
quickly

Nevertheless,
international
media
picked
up
on
it
in
an
unprecedented
manner.
In
a
series
of
pieces
with
unchecked
facts,
foreign
media
even
alleged
the
word
“cocaine”
was
being
yelled
in
the
background.

After
a
fringe
member
of
one
of
the
coalition
parties
suggested
she
should
take
a
drug
test,
Marin
told
reporters
on
Friday
that
she
had
done
so
to
clear
any
misconceptions
about
her
behavior
–
although
the
burden
of
proof
should
not
be
on
the
accused.

While
Marin
also
received
strong
messages
of
international
support,
the
case
shows
how
easily
misinformation
can
start
spreading
like
wildfire.
It
takes
so
little
to
do
damage
but
so
much
work
to
set
the
record
straight.

It
is
always
the
burden
of
a
pioneer,
which
Marin
is
in
many
ways,
to
reform
the
image
of
an
institution,
such
as
what
and
who
a
prime
minister
can
be.
This
will
hardly
be
the
last
very
Finnish
scandal
about
the
prime
minister
and,
maybe,
that’s
a
good
thing.

Source: DW