Pekka Korpinen to retire from Helsinki Deputy Mayor post

SDP wants to keep position

print this

Pekka Korpinen (SDP), Helsinki's Deputy Mayor for City Planning and Real Estate, says that he will retire this autumn. Korpinen has held the post since 1991.
      Korpinen says that he has known for several years that he would step down this year. Born in 1944, Korpinen could have remained in the post until 2012.
     
Korpinen's impending retirement was known among an inner circle of Helsinki decision-makers already in the spring. However, at that time, speculation was rife about the successor of another Social Democratic official, Ilkka-Christian Björklund, the Deputy Mayor for Cultural and Personnel Affairs.
      Korpinen himself does not want to put forward any preferences for a successor, nor does he want to leave a specific legacy.
     
Helsinki's Social Democrats want Korpinen's successor to be a Social Democrat as well.
      The post will be open for applications in the autumn. Under established practice, the post can also be given to someone who has not applied for the position. This happened in June, when Tuula Haatainen (SDP) was chosen to replace Ilkka-Christian Björklund.
     
The Green League has been dissatisfied with its representation in the leadership of the Finnish capital.
      Otto Lehtipuu, head of the Green group in the Helsinki City Council, said on Monday that the party would carefully consider its moves in the matter.
      Pekka Sauri, the Deputy Mayor for Public Works and Environmental Affairs, is Helsinki's only Green deputy mayor.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Deputy Mayor Korpinen wants more residential development on Helsinki islands (25.4.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat