Vanhanen announces he will not stand for re-election to Centre Party leadership

Decision on whether to retain PM's job will come after party conference in June 2010

Matti Vanhanen

Paula Lehtomäki & Anu Vehviläinen

Jyrki Katainen

print this

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen will not be seeking a new term as leader of the Centre Party at the Party Conference in Lahti in June 2010.
      The announcement that he is planning to step down from the chairmanship came in this morning's edition of the party's main mouthpiece Suomenmaa.
     
Vanhanen said his decision had been influenced by a leg operation that has been scheduled for next autumn, and which carries with it such a long post-op recuperation period that it would affect his ability to handle the joint tasks of party chairman and Prime Minister.
      He also noted that the timing of this surprise announcement was deliberate: he feels that Christmas and the New Year will give everyone concerned in the Centre Party a chance to think about their next move in relative peace, without journalists pestering them on their intentions.
     
Vanhanen insists that his decision will have no effect whatsoever on the working of the current coalition government, but notes that the new party leader to be chosen in June would play a central role in naming a prime minister.
      He does not intend to withdraw from politics, but will be standing at the next general election in 2011. Vanhanen has been an MP since 1991 and became Prime Minister in June 2003 on the resignation of Anneli Jäätteenmäki.
      He was chosen as Centre Party chairman later that year.
     
Addressing the party members directly, Vanhanen expressed the hope that they would keep the choice of a new leader in their own hands and would not go running after the first instant opinion poll findings that appear in the media.
      Centre Party Deputy Chairman Antti Rantakangas said for his part that he hoped Vanhanen would continue to lead the government after the party conference, in order that the new party leader could concentrate on running the Centre's campaign for the 2011 general election.
      Rantakangas said that ideally Vanhanen could reschedule his surgery to early 2011 so as to be able to continue in office.
      Vanhanen hinted at this in a comment on his blog, with the inference that were he to be asked to stay on as PM, he might postpone the surgery.
     
Rantakangas further commented that he would announce early in the new year whether he plans to seek the party chairman's job himself.
      He is unlikely to be alone in this endeavour. However much Vanhanen might have wished for a moratorium on comment, figures in the Centre Party were being canvassed on their comments and intentions within minutes of the PM's announcement becoming public knowledge.
     
Deputy Chair and Environment Minister Paula Lehtomäki said that the decision would have no effect on her own timetable. Lehtomäki told the Finnish News Agency (STT) she would be making a possible decision to run in the New Year.
      Lehtomäki added she was not completely surprised by Vanhanen's announcement.
      Another potential candidate, Transport Minister Anu Vehviläinen, was not prepared to declare her candidacy on Wednesday, but followed Lehtomäki's line that she would "come back to the matter in January".
      Vehviläinen did admit to having been taken aback by the turn of events: "Matti Vanhanen's announcement came as a surprise, but was I am sure carefully considered. The Centre Party will digest the news over the Christmas break and will start to consider the question of a successor without any rush", she wrote in an SMS message to Helsingin Sanomat.
     
Another possible contender, former Deputy Chair and current Minister of Public Administration and Local Government Mari Kiviniemi, did not wish to comment on Vanhanen's decision, pleading through an aide that she was concentrating now on spending Christmas quietly.
      Kiviniemi has earlier said that she would be willing to take on more demanding tasks.
     
The leader of the Parliamentary wing of the Centre Party Timo Kalli did comment, saying that Vanhanen's announcement was "unexpected", and that the Prime Minister had informed him of his intentions only on Tuesday.
      Kalli, who has declared he will not be in the running, expects candidates to begin to appear early next year.
      Kalli believes it is possible that after the Lahti conference the Prime Minister and party chairman could be two different persons.
      He stressed that the new chairman and Vanhanen would agree between themselves on whether Vanhanen would continue in the post or not.
     
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Centre Party veteran Seppo Kääriäinen also expressed complete surprise at the announcement by the party leader.
      He estimates that the decision will prompt a new situation within the Centre Party ranks, and hopes that the leadership race would become a genuine competition.
      He will not, however, be throwing his own hat into the ring.
     
Within the National Coalition Party, the Centre's main partners in the four-party governing coalition, the party's Parliamentary leader Pekka Ravi said he did not believe Vanhanen's decision would have any effect on the working of the government.
      He noted that the parties were committed to carrying through the actions set out in the programme worked out when the new government came into being in 2007.
      In Ravi's view, the selection of a new chairman could have a beneficial effect on Centre Party support in the country, but on the other hand it was a calculated risk to change leaders in mid-term in this fashion.
     
The National Coalition Party chairman Jyrki Katainen took a slightly different view, stressing that the decision on the identity of the Prime Minister was not merely a Centre Party problem but a matter for the entire government.
      Katainen did not wish to be drawn on whether the PM should of necessity be the party leader, and concurred that the government would in any event continue on the same lines, regardless of who was chairing sessions of the cabinet.
     
From the largest opposition party, the Social Democrats, the party leader Jutta Urpilainen not unnaturally expressed the belief that the announcement by Vanhanen would adversely affect the government's ability to operate.
      She pointed out that the news drew attention to the choice of Vanhanen's successor and weakened the PM's position.
      This would be reflected in the government's performance in the middle of an economic crisis, noted Urpilainen.
      Urpilainen sees in the background to Vanhanen's decision other reasons than merely a surgical procedure. One factor influencing the decision was in her view the fact that Vanhanen was expected to face competition within the party for re-election.
     
It is probably a little early for much commentary and analysis, But Helsingin Sanomat's Marko Junkkari has already noted that there are surprises both great and small in the announcement. For instance, considering the general climate during the autumn months, Vanhanen's decision to step aside is only a minor shock, but a bigger one is his remarkably frank readiness to stay on as Prime Minister after the party conference and through to the next general election in March or April of 2011.
     
A further shock is the timing - notwithstanding Vanhanen's comments about Christmas.
      As an outgoing party leader inevitably becomes something of a lame duck once the announcement has been made, it had been generally anticipated that Vanhanen would have kept his cards close to his chest and would have held off on announcing anything until the spring, thereby allowing for as short a "lame" period as possible.
      Within the Centre Party faithful, Vanhanen has been criticised above all for neglecting the work of party leader.
      As far as his work as Prime Minister heading the government is concerned, they feel he has done a magnificent job.
     
"Vanhanen's decision thus answers the call from the party rank and file. The Centre Party will go into the next elections under a new and eager leader, which might turn around the support for the party in the country and carry them into a position where they can feature in the next government. At the same time, the party would possibly be able to enjoy Vanhanen as Prime Minister until the end of the current four-year government term", writes Junkkari.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  COMMENTARY: Christmas break gives Centre Party figures time to consider Party leadership issue (15.12.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat