A petition calling on Finance Minister and Deputy PM Riikka Purra (Finns) to tender her resignation with immediate effect has garnered over 121,000 signatures and on Friday was handed over to opposition party MPs on the steps of the Parliament House.
The petition was launched by Aaro Tamminen on 12 July, just a few days after revelations about racist and violent comments Purra had written on a blog in 2008.
The petition garnered more than 121,000 signatures in one week — although signing does not require strong identification or other form of personal verification and theoretically could have been signed by the same person more than once.
The signatories called on the minister to resign and be held accountable for her racist comments.
"We believe that Purra is not competent to act as a member of the government in any form. We also believe that Purra has not taken responsibility for her actions and the only even remotely correct action is an immediate resignation," the petition states.
The petition was received on the steps of the Parliament House by representatives from the opposition Social Democrat, Green and Left Alliance parties.
Chair of the Left Alliance's parliamentary group, Jussi Saramo, told Yle that the debate over Purra's comments and her role as a government minister will continue until a vote of confidence is held in parliament, which he said was likely to happen in September at the latest.
The opposition parties have previously called for parliament's summer recess to be suspended so that MPs could return to debate and vote on confidence in Purra.
However, Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho — who is Purra's party colleague and predecessor as Finns Party leader — decided against reconvening parliament, citing lack of urgency and external pressure.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) has promised a "zero tolerance" attitude towards racism from his government, and said he plans to present plans on how his administration will tackle discrimination and promote equality when parliament returns in the autumn.
This session will include a confidence vote on the government.