Six candidates to be interviewed for Helsinki Deputy Mayor post

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A total of five candidates sent in their applications for the position of Helsinki’s Deputy Mayor for City Planning and Real Estate by the deadline on Monday.
      The current holder of the post, Pekka Korpinen (SDP), has announced that he will step down this autumn, after holding the post since 1991.
     
However, the application period was merely a technical formality, as the post can be given to any formally competent person who has given his or her consent.
      As Pekka Korpinen is a member of the Social Democratic Party, Helsinki's Social Democrats want Korpinen's successor to be a Social Democrat as well.
      The chair of the Social Democratic Council Group on the Helsinki City Council, Kai Kalima, reported on Monday that the party will invite six persons to attend interviews. The aim is to find a successor for Pekka Korpinen from among these six candidates.
     
On Wednesday, the SDP Council Group and the board of regional units will interview Heikki Lonka, the Deputy Mayor for the City of Vaasa technical services, Hannu Penttilä, the Executive Director of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV), Jukka Peltomäki, the Deputy Mayor of the City of Vantaa, Kari Piimies, the Chairman of the SDP Helsinki unit, Tanja Sippola-Alho, the Secretary of the City of Helsinki, and Kaarin Taipale, an architect who worked as a manager at the City of Helsinki’s Building Regulation Department for many years.
      Tapani Hellstén, who was regarded as a strong Social Democratic candidate, withdrew his application last week.
      The decision on the candidate of the SDP should be made by Monday next week.
     
The Green League has complained about their underrepresentation in the leadership of Helsinki, but the National Coalition Party has been reluctant to change the inter-party agreements at mid-term.
      Currently, the Social Democrats have two deputy mayors in Helsinki, while the Greens have only one. The SDP were the second-largest party at the last municipal elections, behind the conservatives of the National Coalition and ahead of the Greens.
     
Among the five official applicants on Monday was also Osmo Soininvaara, the former leader of the Green League, even though he has said that he does not regard his chances of becoming elected as very good. Soininvaara, a former MP and cabinet minister, was once close to getting this very job in 1996, when Korpinen sought the Mayor's office. When Korpinen lost that race, however, he stayed at his desk.
      The other official candidates are Penttilä, Piimies, Sippola-Alho, and Juha Pulkkinen from the City of Helsinki’s Building Regulation Department.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Pekka Korpinen to retire from Helsinki Deputy Mayor post (31.7.2007)

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