The PS of Finland has lost credibility and should be ejected from government

Here’s the question: What is the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party still doing in government and what credibility does it have after its popularity in the polls continues to plummet? The latest poll published shows the PS with only 7.6%, according to YLE News. That compares with 17.7% of the votes it got in the 2015 parliamentary elections. 

PS MP Pentti Oinonen said on YLE that “it was high time” that the party gets its act together. He claims that PS chairman Timo Soini is being bossed around by its two partners in government, the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP).

“We rose [as a party] six years ago when we spoke in the language of the people and were looking after the rights of the poor,” he said.

What Oinonen forgets to tell us is that since populism never has a concrete plan, since it is made up of a lot of hot air and rhetoric, it’s a party that has viciously attacked migrants and minorities.

Moreover, by attacking migrants and minorities as we saw last month, the PS has inflicted more damage on itself.

The same xenophobic and bigoted arguments that it used to win popularity don’t work today. Apart from breaking most of its campaign promises, are some voters shocked by the racism and bigotry of the PS?

But here’s the question: What credibility does the PS have today considering that its poll standing continues to head south? In the 2007 elections, the PS got 4.05% and 5 seats in parliament.

The PS has no credibility as a party. It lost it a long time ago when it decided that racism and bigotry would be a good strategy to get votes and political power.

Few will miss the PS after it is sent in the municipal and parliamentary elections of 2017 and 2019 back to the minor political leagues.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. The direct translation of “Perussuomalaiset” is “basic” or “fundamental Finn.”