Helsinki Mayor Jan Vapaavuori says he is leaving politics. Vapaavuori has long been a major figure in the conservative National Coalition Party, serving two terms as a government minister.
“I will not be a candidate in next spring’s municipal election,” he told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in an article published early on Sunday morning.
Vapaavuori, 55, told the paper that he had spent two thirds of his career in societal roles, so he could spend the last third doing something different. Vapaavuori said he would however leave politics and not be preparing for any kind of elections.
The mayor said that working in the private sector was the most likely alternative, but that he was also interested in international responsibilities or entrepreneurship.
Largest vote-getter in 2017 election
After losing a bid to become NCP chair in 2015, Vapaavuori spent two years as a vice-president of the European Investment Bank. That followed nearly three years as Minister of Economic Affairs and four years as housing minister, beginning in 2007.
In 2017 Vapaavuori was named as mayor of Helsinki after his party won the most seats in the city council in municipal elections. He earned nearly 30,000 votes, the largest number for any candidate in the country in those elections.
Vapaavuori was an MP from 2003 to 2015, and has been a Helsinki City Council member since 1997.
As mayor, Vapaavuori has backed controversial proposals such as a tunnel from Sörnäinen to the West Harbour and a local branch of the Guggenheim art museum. As Economic Affairs Minister, Vapaavuori also aroused controversy over his role concerning a permit for the proposed Fennovoima nuclear power plant.
Hails US return to climate pact
On Sunday he wrote on Twitter: “Each of us only has one life. I strongly believe that this life is richer if one can do a variety of things. Until next spring, I will remain completely committed at the wheel in Helsinki. After that, I will do something else. What? I really don’t know yet.”
On Saturday evening, Vapaavuori joined most other Finnish politicians in congratulating United States President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Writing in English, he called it "a win to democracy, reason and hope!", adding in a Finnish tweet: “Only 73 days until the US re-joins the Paris climate agreement. There is now more hope in the world in other ways as well.”