Roundup: Finnish ruling conservative party changes leadership

The election of Finnish Interior Minister Petteri Orpo on Saturday as chairman of the conservative National Coalition Party will bring changes in the cabinet posts.

In the party convention in Lappeeranta, southern Finland, Orpo defeated incumbent chairman, Finance Minister Alexander Stubb in a vote 441 against 361.

Orpo said on Saturday he himself would become finance minister, but declined to comment on whether Stubb would take another ministerial position and remain in the cabinet.

Prime Minister Juha Sipila said on Saturday no changes would be made in the strategic government program, but noted that new measures would be needed to attain its goals.

The arrangment of the new ministerial positions would be up to Orpo, Sipila said.

Stubb had been elected two years ago in a wave of enthusiasm at the party congress in Lahti, central southern Finland. He had gained the party's largest personal number of votes and had a huge appeal to convention delegates.

The hype evaporated soon, however, and Stubb was accused of lack of interest in domestic issues, among others.

Local analysts noted that in the 2014 election the party elite had backed another candidate, but the public support of Stubb had been insurmountable and the party floor could not be directed.

Orpo defined on Saturday his predecessor as "a new kind of phenomenon" in Finnish politics and something "the Finns actually were not used to".

"There were then mistakes along the way that created discontent," he said.

Orpo pledged the conservatives would reestablish "contact with the common Finns". He also said there would be no more cuts in education.

Orpo described in his preelection address how a teacher and a nurse had told him they would never again vote conservatives. Orpo said the conservatives would have a "more human face".

He said the party should focus on the self-employed entrepreneurs whose societal safety net in Finland is weak.

Commenting to Xinhua, Timo Soikkanen, former professor of political history at Turku University, coined the change as "Orpo knowing Finland better". He referred Stubb's career in the EU, education abroad and lack of everyday experience in Finland.

Soikkanen said Orpo had a long career in the party while Stubb hardly knew the party structure. Stubb would be a real asset for Finland in international service and diplomacy, Soikkanen said.

The third contender for the chairman's position was MP Elina Lepomaki. She got 122 votes in the first round while Orpo got 396 and Stubb 294. Lepomaki represented a clearly more right wing and called for a change in the party.

As chairman of the conservatives, Alexander Stubb succeeded Jyrki Katainen as prime minister in June 2014. The conservatives lost their position as the biggest party in the election in May 2015 and Stubb became finance minister.

In the current three-party ruling coalition, Stubb was able to get through many conservative policies and claimed in his reelection campaign that the government program had the highest "National Coalition Party content" ever. Endit