Kokoomus MP apologises for linking ex-President to comics dog

Ruling Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) lawmaker Atte Kaleva on Saturday apologised for sharing a post in social media comparing the expression of former President Tarja Halonen to a dog in Donald Duck cartoons.

Kaleva shared a photo of Halonen at the inaugural ceremony of President Alexander Stubb in his social media platform X on Friday where he compared the expression of the two-term President with Hurtta III Henkevä, a dog in the cartoons.

The Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) leader, Tarja Halonen was President of Finland for two consecutive terms from 2000 to 2012.

The Kokoomus MP later in another social media post on Saturday apologised for the inappropriate post following strong criticism by people from different strata.

"Yesterday (Friday) I tweeted thoughtlessly about president Halonen. I compared her expression to the very recognisable expression of the dog drawn by Carl Barks. I wrote the tweet very badly. Comparing the president to a dog is inappropriate. I apologise for this and want to apologise to president Halonen," Kaleva wrote in his post in Finnish.