Anneli Jäätteenmäki most popular in Centre Party leadership race

Tabloid poll puts former PM in top position

Anneli Jäätteenmäki

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Former Centre Party chairwoman and Prime Minister, MEP Anneli Jäätteenmäki is the overwhelming favourite for the post of the party’s chair, according to a survey commissioned by the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat.
      The announcement by Minister of the Environment Paula Lehtomäki that she would not seek to replace Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, who is leaving the post in June, boosted Jäätteenmäki’s support within the Centre Party from 17 per cent to 28 per cent.
     
Jäätteenmäki has not yet said if she will seek the party leadership.
      “I will have to calmly digest these great figures”, Jäätteenmäki indicated to Helsingin Sanomat on Saturday.
      Kari Hokkanen, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Ilkka, feels that it is “quite possible” that Jäätteenmäki will seek the post.
      “And desirable”, he adds.
      Hokkanen feels that Jäätteenmäki has a good chance of being chosen as the next leader of the Centre Party.
     
Jäätteenmäki was forced to resign from the party leadership and the post of Prime Minister in 2003 over revelations that she had used confidential government documents leaked to her by an aide to the President about policy toward Iraq during that year’s Parliamentary campaign.
      Hokkanen does not feel that the affair is a problem for Jäätteenmäki. “On the contrary, she helped avoid Finland from joining the war in Iraq.”
      However, she once lost the confidence of Parliament. How would such a Prime Minister be accepted by other parties?
      “The National Coalition Party has already said that it will accept the Centre Party’s decision. This is in the hands of the Centre, and I don’t see any problems."
     
The next-most popular alternatives among Centre Party supporters as the party’s next chair are Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen (13 per cent) and Minister of Municipal Affairs Mari Kiviniemi (10 per cent).
      Väyrynen and Kiviniemi are currently the only declared contenders for the Centre Party leadership. Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen dropped hints about his intentions on Friday on a news broadcast on the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE). He said that there is a “Mauri-sized hole” in the candidate setup, but he did not declare that he would seek the post. In the IS survey, Pekkarinen got 9 per cent support.
      Other candidates in the survey included deputy chair Antti Rantakangas (6 per cent), Commissioner Olli Rehn (5 per cent), Deputy Speaker of Parliament Seppo Kääriäinen (2 per cent), MP Mika Lintilä (1 per cent), and Centre Party Secretary Jarmo Korhonen (1 per cent).
     
Among all respondents, and not just members of the Centre Party, Jäätteenmäki and Rehn were equally popular, getting 14 per cent support each.
      The Centre Party’s party congress will chose a new leader on June 12th. The new party chair is likely to be named Prime Minister for the remainder of the Parliamentary term, which ends in the spring of 2011.
     
The survey was conducted by the Taloustutkimus market research organisation, and involved interviews with 969 people conducted between January 18th and 21st.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Mari Kiviniemi joins race for Centre Party leadership (22.1.2010)
  Paavo Väyrynen seeks return to Centre Party leadership (20.1.2010)
  Lehtomäki surprises Centre Party by bowing out of leadership race (18.1.2010)
  Vanhanen announces he will not stand for re-election to Centre Party leadership (23.12.2009)
  Jäätteenmäki acquitted - Manninen convicted over Iraq leak (19.3.2004)
  Dramatic resignation ends brief Prime Ministerial career of Anneli Jäätteenmäki (19.6.2003)

Helsingin Sanomat