Leaders of other government parties have sharply criticised photos posted on social media by Finns Party politicians.
Finns Party MPs Juho Eerola and Kaisa Garedew along with MEP Sebastian Tynkkynen have published pictures showing themselves stretching their eyes in the same way as Sarah Dzafce in a post that led to her losing the Miss Finland title. She lost the crown after a social media post showed her stretching her eyes sideways, accompanied by a text referring to a Chinese person.
"This is irresponsible, childish and stupid. It’s obvious that it offends people," said Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz, chair of the Swedish People’s Party (SPP).
There has also been criticism of the lawmakers’ posts from within Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's National Coalition Party (NCP).
"If an MP behaves in a way that can lead to conclusions about racism, it can easily spread elsewhere. This needs to be stopped right at the start," said Pia Kauma, deputy chair of the NCP parliamentary group.
Eerola told Yle that he regrets that his image has been interpreted as racist.
"I would like to say to all people of Asian background that I apologise if you felt that way. It was never intended to offend them," he said on Friday.
According to Eerola, the criticism of the picture was directed at the pageant organisation, which in his opinion should have supported Dzafce.
Group leaders will "most likely" discuss the matter
Kauma told the tabloid Iltalehti that the matter will "most likely" be discussed at a meeting of the governing parties’ parliamentary group leaders on Tuesday.
Kauma declined to speculate on what kind of sanctions might be imposed on Eerola and Garedew, noting that the decision is up to the Finns Party.
"It is important that we discuss the rules of the game again. We have all committed to [government] communique about racism," said Kauma.
She referred a 2024 statement in which the four governing parties committed to creating a "respectful atmosphere" following a string of racist statements and social media posts by Finns Party politicians. In September, after yet another such scandal, the four parties agreed that any questionable statements would be discussed by the group leaders – but that any possible disciplinary measures would be decided on within each parliamentary group.
Support from parliamentary group leader
Otto Andersson, the chair of the SPP parliamentary group, also declined to speculate about repercussions for the latest posts, but called them "regrettable".
"The impression is that, once again, people want to draw attention to their own party and possibly divert it from some other issue," Andersson said.
Punishment seems unlikely in this case, as the leader of the Finns Party parliamentary group, Jani Mäkelä, said on Friday that he supports Eerola. According to Mäkelä, an MP has a right to criticise the decision to take away the Miss Finland title.
"His post is related to a case that is a significant social injustice, which must be addressed and is appropriate to criticise," Mäkelä told Yle.
"We cannot live in a society where people have to be careful about their every word for fear of losing their job and reputation, even due to a misunderstanding," he added.
Eerola has also received support from the party's second deputy chair, MP Joakim Vigelius.
Purra: "Many Finns want to defend such people"
Late Friday afternoon, Finance Minister and Finns Party chair Riikka Purra told Yle that she had not had time to closely follow the discussion surrounding Dzafce's photo.
According to Purra, the Finns Party primarily wants to defend Dzafce, who was forced to resign despite having apologised.
"She herself is of immigrant background and has said that she has suffered from racism. Many Finns feel empathy and act humanely when they want to defend such people, who are often the target of unreasonable, merciless bullying," said Purra. Dzafce's father is from Kosovo.
Secondly, according to Purra, the Finns Party wants to show that the discussion on the topic is absurd.
"This kind of discussion and how we engage in it don't really make any sense," she said.
