Paavo Väyrynen seeks return to Centre Party leadership

In a move that was almost universally expected after his earlier statements two weeks ago, on Tuesday the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development and former Centre Party leader and Foreign Minister Paavo Väyrynen formally announced his intention to run for the chair of the Centre Party in June.
      Väyrynen, 63, has also declared his confidence that he can lead the Centre Party to victory in the 2011 Parliamentary elections, putting him in the frame to become Finland's next Prime Minister.
     
Väyrynen noted that he had been out of the political limelight for the past 15 years, during which time he has spent 12 years as a MEP and three in his current ministerial position, and that in the meantime some 700,000 to 800,000 new voters have come of age, for whom he is "an unwritten book".
     
For older voters, Väyrynen is anything but that - he is a contentious figure in Finnish politics, albeit one with a prodigious pedigree dating back to the early 1970s, when he first entered Parliament.
      He led the Centre Party between 1980 and 1990, and his experience as a cabinet minister stretches across five decades, from his first appointment in 1975 as Minister of Education.
      He has held the Foreign Affairs portfolio on no fewer than three occasions between 1977 and 1993, and also made a run for the Presidency in 1988 and 1994.
     
Väyrynen's arrival in the arena is certain to shake up the race for the chairmanship of the Centre Party, which will become vacant at the party conference in June, as Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has announced he will not be seeking re-election.
      Some confusion still exists over what exactly will happen to the job of Prime Minister after June - with some nine months of the government term still to run before elections in 2011.
      One possibility is that the new Centre Party chairman would take over the reins, or Vanhanen may be asked to stay on for the duration of his second four-year term.
     
In any event, by declaring his hand at a point when the Centre Party race has been characterised more by those who will not be running, Paavo Väyrynen has certainly thrown himself back into the spotlight and injected a note of drama into the proceedings.
      He also swept the rug from under the feet of another Centre Party veteran Mauri Pekkarinen, 62, the Minister for Economic Affairs.
      Pekkarinen heard of the announcement while on a visit to Abu Dhabi, and had no comment to make.
      A statement on Pekkarinen's intentions is expected sometime in the near future, along with one from Mari Kiviniemi, 41, the Minister of Public Administration and Local Government.
      Following the withdrawal earlier this week of the anticipated front-runner among the younger members of the party Paula Lehtomäki, Kiviniemi is seen as the leading candidate of the younger generation in a battle that is shaping up to be one of experience versus a need to reshape the party.
           

More on this subject:
 COLUMN: The return of the strongman

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Lehtomäki surprises Centre Party by bowing out of leadership race (18.1.2010)
  Battle for the Centre Party chair is warming up (8.1.2010)
  Other Centre Party MPs do not warm to Väyrynen´s views on party chairman´s age (7.1.2010)
  Veteran Centre Party politician Paavo Väyrynen hints at run for leadership (5.1.2010)
  Vanhanen: careful consideration behind decision to give up Centre Party leadership (31.12.2009)
  COMMENTARY: Christmas break gives Centre Party figures time to consider Party leadership issue (15.12.2009)

See also:
  MP-elect wants "influential" position or he will return to European Parliament (28.3.2007)
  COLUMN: Better the devil we know heading the government (16.1.2010)

Links:
  Paavo Väyrynen (Wikipedia)