International policy

Finland is a republic whose system combines a unicameral parliament elected by proportional representation every four years and a President elected by direct universal suffrage for a six-year term, renewable once.

The President shares power with the Head of Government, elected by Parliament. He is the head of the army and directs foreign policy, excluding European issues since the revision of the Constitution in 2000, in collaboration with the government. On 28 January 2018, President Sauli Niinistö (independent, conservative) was re-elected for a second term in the first round of voting (64.3%). The next presidential elections will be held in 2024.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin (Social Democratic Party, PSD, centre-left) was officially appointed by President Niinistö on 10 December 2019, following the resignation of Antti Rinne after a serious social conflict at the Finnish Post. At 34, Ms Marin became the youngest Prime Minister in Finland's history and the third woman to hold the office.

Ms. Marin leads a coalition of five parties (PSD, Centre, Greens, Left Alliance, Swedish People's Party), which has a majority of 117 out of 200 seats in Parliament. Her government includes 9 women out of 18 members.
As soon as she was appointed, Ms Marin had to deal with the health crisis. By all accounts, the crisis management has benefited the current government: the far-right True Finns party, which led in the polls at the beginning of 2020, has now fallen behind the PSD. The Finnish population has in fact overwhelmingly supported the government's response to the crisis, which consisted of taking exceptional measures in coordination with the President from 16 March 2020 in a hybrid mode. These measures have protected the population, limiting the number of deaths to less than 1,000 since the beginning of the epidemic, and have ensured the continued functioning of society and the economy. Ms Marin took the opportunity to refocus the political debate on social and climate issues, rather than on values.

The next parliamentary elections will be held in 2023.