Jussi Halla-aho (Finns) was re-elected to the position of Speaker of Parliament on Tuesday, but with significantly less support than he received last summer as many opposition party MPs handed in blank ballots.
Out of 200 MPs, Halla-aho received just 91 votes, much fewer than the 134 votes he garnered when he first secured the job last summer.
A total of 36 MPs handed in blank votes, while six ballots were rejected due to insufficiently or incorrectly written names.
Ahead of Tuesday's vote, the Social Democrats' parliamentary group chair Tytti Tuppurainen told Helsingin Sanomat that the group does not plan on supporting Halla-aho's re-election as speaker.
However, she also told Yle that the SDP did not make a group decision about the matter, adding that each MP was free to cast their ballots on their own.
Post is second-biggest party's
Tuppurainen said the SDP still believes that the speaker's post belongs in the hands of the Finns Party, and that their objections were specifically aimed at Halla-aho.
According to parliamentary tradition and an agreement between parties, a member of the second-largest government party receives the speaker post — which in this case is the Finns Party.
"Specifically, Jussi Halla-aho's behaviour as speaker during the autumn showed he does not meet the expectations we have," Tuppurainen said, adding that the speaker should not get involved in daily politics, but instead work on protecting and bringing parliament together.
After the vote, Halla-aho — who came in third in the first round of the presidential election last month — characterised the blank ballots as giving "the middle finger" to the citizens who voted for him.
He noted that he received around 615,000 votes in the first round of the presidential election and suggested that the protest vote may influence his supporters in the second round, as they decide between Alexander Stubb of the National Coalition Party and Green League MP Pekka Haavisto.
The distribution of Halla-aho's votes in the second round run-off between Stubb and Haavisto is viewed by political analysts as key in deciding who becomes Finland's next president.
A handful of other MPs also received votes for the speaker post.
The Finns Party's Juho Eerola and Sakari Puisto received 17 and four votes, respectively. Additionally MPs Eva Biaudet (SPP), Timo Heinonen (NCP), Teemu Keskisarja (Finns), Anna Kontula (Left) ja Juha Mäenpää (Finns) each received a vote for speaker.
While the votes for Halla-aho were relatively low, the outgoing President Sauli Niinistö received even fewer votes (89) when he was selected as Speaker of Parliament as a National Coalition member in 2010.
Meanwhile, Paula Risikko (NCP), who received 152 votes, will continue as parliament's first deputy speaker. Last June she received 177 votes when she was elected to the post.
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