Niinistö to continue as speaker after support from parliamentary party leaders

Halonen stresses presidential powers in opening address

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Finland's brief political crisis over the Speaker of Parliament lasted precisely 26 hours.
      The arguments were smoothed out, or at least a truce was reached, in talks between Parliamentary party leaders and the re-elected Speaker Sauli Niinistö (National Coalition Party), and Niinistö announced as evening fell that he would continue in his position as normal, in spite of the fact that fewer than half of the MPs in the house had supported him in Tuesday's vote.
     
The opening of Parliament on Wednesday went off in an understandably somewhat tense atmosphere, but in her inaugural address President Tarja Halonen made no reference to the recent election spat, and concentrated on discussing presidential powers and employment-related issues.
     
The fuss over the protest vote by MPs, which threatened for a moment to boil over into a full-blown crisis if Niinistö had decided that the ungrateful MPs could do without his presence, had begun on Tuesday, when just 89 of the sitting members voted for Niinistö in an election that is normally something of a formality.
      The seats on Parliament's Presidium are always determined beforehand among the leaders of the party groupings in the house, and hence the protest vote could be seen as a deliberate vote of no confidence in Niinistö.
      On Tuesday evening, he declared that his interest in the job was somewhat underwhelming after what had happened.
     
However, a 45-minute meeting with the leaders of the parties' parliamentary groups after the official opening ceremonies were done was enough to turn his head around.
      It became clear from their discussions that the leaders and the Speaker had no outstanding conflicts, and that what had happened the previous day was now a closed book, and everyone would move on, explained Centre Party house leader Timo Kalli, who was marched in front of the cameras after the meeting.
      A relieved Niinistö commented to Helsingin Sanomat in the evening that the party leaders had assured him of their complete support, and their backing for his cost-saving programme and administrative reforms, believed to be partially responsible for the revolt in the ranks.
     
In spite of the new-found harmony, discussion of what had taken place was brisk in the corridors of Parliament on Wednesday.
      The secret ballot was debated all day, but nobody could actually work out what had really happened.
      One theme was the suspicion that the Centre Party MPs had withdrawn their support for Niinistö in large numbers, but Timo Kalli declared this was an insulting suggestion of Centrist perfidy.
      It would seem that nay-sayers came from all parties, probably even including Niinistö's own moderate conservative grouping, although among National Coalition MPs a popular scapegoat in the role of "strike general" was the newly-chosen head of the SDP parliamentary wing Eero Heinäluoma.
     
To some extent the MPs were voicing silent complaints against Niinistö's cost-cutting, which had impinged on some of their rights and privileges, but there was also a groundswell of dissatisfaction with his style of management.
      Some members have felt he was more like an "outside consultant" than the team-player they are used to having in the Speaker's chair, and there were even suggestions that Niinistö's actions were linked to ambitions for a possible second run at the Presidency in 2012.
      Niinistö remains the most popular candidate, should he decide to run for that office, and "keeping the pampered MPs honest" in times when many in the country are suffering economic hardship is an excellent way of maintaining public support.
     
While the Speakergate incident took much of the attention, the real business of Wednesday was to get a new session of Parliament - the last before elections in 2011 - off and running.
      President Halonen delivered an address in which she took up the issue of extending working life at both ends, including pension reforms.
      She noted that using force in these matters was unlikely to be of any help in the present situation.
      She also brought up the subject of public services being sacrificed in the name of efficiency, touching on matters of competition, outsourcing, and privatisation of services.
     
Given the recent developments over limits on Presidential powers (to be possibly introduced after her term ends in 2012), it was almost inevitable Halonen would bring this matter up, and she did. She voiced the view that even in the future the President should lead the country's foreign and security policy in cooperation with the government of the day.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Parliament session opens today in tense mood (3.2.2010)
  The last President? (8.12.2009)
  Niinistö considers options after lack of support from MPs in Speaker´s election (2.2.2010)

See also:
  Presidential authority: committee divided on party lines (24.11.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat