Social Democratic Party MP Ville Merinen has announced via his Instagram channel that he will take sick leave from Parliament.
Merinen told his 140,000 followers on the platform that his reasons for taking the leave are his mother's serious illness as well as the impossible working atmosphere within the Social Affairs and Health Committee.
"The sickest work community I have ever been in," Merinen wrote, adding that he has been thinking about taking leave for a considerable amount of time.
"Am I just a flawed person or am I right to not be able to stand the atmosphere in the Social Affairs and Health Committee? I came to a conclusion. I'm not flawed. I'm actually one of the strongest in this house. It's not possible to endure this," he said.
The first-term MP uses the handle Terapeutti-Ville (or Therapy-Ville) on Instagram, due to his previous profession as a psychotherapist. Before becoming an MP, he became an influential voice on Finnish social media on matters related to mental health.
Merinen said on Thursday that, in his own view, he would become ill with exhaustion or depression if he continued in his role as an MP under the current circumstances.
"Parliament, political parties: this has to change. Now fucking do something. You can't make high-quality laws in such a place," he added.
Merinen's party colleague Krista Kiuru, who chairs the committee, told Yle that the atmosphere has become highly pressurised.
"The proposals discussed in the committee this autumn have been very heavy. The working culture in Parliament has become much tougher than before," Kiuru said, adding that "conflicts have escalated" during this government's term.
"There are big differences of opinion between the government and the opposition. There are serious value clashes when government proposals are discussed in Parliament," she said, but noted that the committee's heavy workload has also increased the pressure.
The Social Affairs and Health Committee was at the centre of a recent controversy, when the government's proposals on cuts to healthcare funding and the home delivery of alcohol products were sent to other parliamentary committees — but not to the health committee, which would have expected to review the proposals.
Yle understands that the decision to leave the health committee out of the loop was supported by the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party, but their coalition partners — the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats — indicated on Thursday evening that the bills should be reviewed by the Social Affairs and Health Committee.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.