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Finnish political parties begin unveiling candidate lists ahead of EU Parliament elections

The MEP candidate lists are expected to fill up in the coming months as parties add to the list ahead of the vote in June.

Voting in the European Parliament.
Voting in the European Parliament. File photo. Image: Ronald Wittek / EPA
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Several political parties have revealed some of candidates that will stand for election to the European Parliament in June.

The Finns Party announced some of their candidates on Monday, including current MP and deputy party chair Sebastian Tynkkynen from Oulu, MPs Ari Koponen from Tuusula and Sanna Antikainen from Outokumpu as well as former party secretary Arto Luukkanen.

In addition to the Finns Party, the Swedish People's Party (SPP) named its preliminary candidates for the June elections last week. The list includes current party chair and Minister of Education Anna-Maja Henriksson from Jakobstad and MP Eva Biaudet from Helsinki.

Meanwhile the National Coalition Party's current candidate list includes MPs Aura Salla, Susanne Päivärinta and Ville Kaunisto.

From the Social Democratic Party, incumbent MEP Eero Heinäluoma will run again as well as MPs Ville Merinen and Suna Kymäläinen, while former Centre party chair and one-time Finance Minister Katri Kulmuni will also stand as a candidate for her party in the June election.

The Green League will see incumbent MEP Ville Niinistö run again while Silvia Modig, the Left Alliance's current MEP, will not seek re-election for the next term of the European Parliament.

Movement Now and the Christian Democrats have not yet announced any candidates.

Many of the candidate lists are currently incomplete, with more candidates expected to announce their campaigns in the coming months.

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