Risikko elected Parliament Speaker

The parliament on Monday elected Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party) MP and present Minister of the Interior Paula Risikko as the Speaker of Parliament replacing Maria Lohela.

Risikko got 157 votes in the 200-member parliament. Kokoomus lawmaker Ilkka Kanerva got 16 votes, and some other MPs got one vote each.

Mauri Pekkarinen of the Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party), was elected the first Deputy Speaker and Tuula Haatainen of the Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP), as the second Deputy Speaker.

Overhaul in the presidium became necessary due to the breakup of the Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party), last summer.

Lohela was elected the speaker as a Perussuomalaiset nominee following the parliamentary election in 2015. After the breakup of Perussuomalaiset in 2017, the Kokoomus became the second largest and was due to put its MP on the speaker's position.

Kokoomus chairman Petteri Orpo said it is time to elect "a competent politician and a good person to the number two position of the country".

Orpo said the conservatives try to decide the interior ministerial vacancy left by Risikko on Tuesday.

Risikko, born in 1960, has been a Kokoomus MP since 2003. She has held various governmental positions since 2007. She has a doctorate degree in health sciences.

Risikko has been known in recent years as a the leading defender of the conservative agenda in the Finnish health care reform. As interior minister, she has also been vocal on the plans to enhance the security legislation.

Before the option to choose Risikko for the position, Kanerva had been considered the self-evident conservative nominee until late last year.

Being in the parliament since 1975, Kanerva is the longest serving MP in Finland. However, in light of the current worldwide debate on sexual harrasement, his election became problematic to the party as he had to step down from the position as the foreign minister in 2008 following revelations about inappropriate text messages sent to a woman.

The election of the speaker is carried out through paper ballots and thus it is not known where the support for Kanerva came from. The conservative caucus was reported to nominate Risikko unanimously.