Timo Soini, the head of the right-wing eurosceptic Finns Party, hopes his common-man charisma will finally bring him to the halls of power in Finland's general election on Sunday.
Affable, witty and wily, Soini knows how to entertain his voters: always at the ready, he fires off answers to their questions without batting an eye, not even hesitating to make up words to suit his needs.
At 52, the rotund and easy-going Soini likes to present himself as a down-home alternative to Finland's more polished political class. He does however speak four languages -- Finnish, Swedish, English and German -- and holds a university degree in political science.
A public opinion poll published Thursday in the financial daily Taloustutkimus gave his party 16.7 percent of votes, a decline from 19 percent in the 2011 election when it became the third-biggest party in parliament and Soini himself won the most direct votes of any candidate.
At the time, Soini chose not to join the broad, six-party government coalition because of his party's opposition to eurozone bailouts for debt-ridden countries.
"I think the Finnish cow's milk should stay in Finland and not be sent abroad as charity," he told public broadcaster YLE.
Opinion polls put the Finns Party neck-and-neck with the Social Democrats and the conservative National Coalition Party, but far behind the opposition liberal-agrarian Centre Party, which is widely expected to come out top on Sunday.
Nevertheless, the Finns Party's score will likely put it in a strong enough position to negotiate a spot in the next coalition.
Timo Soini doesn't mince his words: "I do want into the government," he told AFP, adding that he would like to hold the post of prime minister, foreign minister or interior minister.
"We can cooperate with everybody because our party is a good party that is placed in the political centre. No party has said they would not cooperate with us," he added.
A pillar of Finland's political scene for the past decade, Soini is one of the founders of the Finns Party, which has its roots in eurosceptic and anti-immigration views, and he has led it with a firm hand since 1997.
While his party was long known for its anti-immigration rhetoric, in recent years it has changed tack to focus on its opposition to the EU and has purged its openly racist members. In March, Soini said immigrants were welcome in Finland.
The Finns Party now hopes to attract voters disappointed by the current left-right coalition's discord and inability to pull Finland out of a three-year economic slump.
The party wants to appeal to small and medium-sized businesses -- by making it cheaper for them to hire new employees -- as well as pensioners and the unemployed.
Soini served as a member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2011.
A practicing Catholic in an overwhelmingly Protestant country, Timo Soini is married and has two children.
Timo Soini, the head of the right-wing eurosceptic Finns Party, hopes his common-man charisma will finally bring him to the halls of power in Finland’s general election on Sunday.
Affable, witty and wily, Soini knows how to entertain his voters: always at the ready, he fires off answers to their questions without batting an eye, not even hesitating to make up words to suit his needs.
At 52, the rotund and easy-going Soini likes to present himself as a down-home alternative to Finland’s more polished political class. He does however speak four languages — Finnish, Swedish, English and German — and holds a university degree in political science.
A public opinion poll published Thursday in the financial daily Taloustutkimus gave his party 16.7 percent of votes, a decline from 19 percent in the 2011 election when it became the third-biggest party in parliament and Soini himself won the most direct votes of any candidate.
At the time, Soini chose not to join the broad, six-party government coalition because of his party’s opposition to eurozone bailouts for debt-ridden countries.
“I think the Finnish cow’s milk should stay in Finland and not be sent abroad as charity,” he told public broadcaster YLE.
Opinion polls put the Finns Party neck-and-neck with the Social Democrats and the conservative National Coalition Party, but far behind the opposition liberal-agrarian Centre Party, which is widely expected to come out top on Sunday.
Nevertheless, the Finns Party’s score will likely put it in a strong enough position to negotiate a spot in the next coalition.
Timo Soini doesn’t mince his words: “I do want into the government,” he told AFP, adding that he would like to hold the post of prime minister, foreign minister or interior minister.
“We can cooperate with everybody because our party is a good party that is placed in the political centre. No party has said they would not cooperate with us,” he added.
A pillar of Finland’s political scene for the past decade, Soini is one of the founders of the Finns Party, which has its roots in eurosceptic and anti-immigration views, and he has led it with a firm hand since 1997.
While his party was long known for its anti-immigration rhetoric, in recent years it has changed tack to focus on its opposition to the EU and has purged its openly racist members. In March, Soini said immigrants were welcome in Finland.
The Finns Party now hopes to attract voters disappointed by the current left-right coalition’s discord and inability to pull Finland out of a three-year economic slump.
The party wants to appeal to small and medium-sized businesses — by making it cheaper for them to hire new employees — as well as pensioners and the unemployed.
Soini served as a member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2011.
A practicing Catholic in an overwhelmingly Protestant country, Timo Soini is married and has two children.
