Jämsä politician Pekka Kataja will not run as a candidate for the Finns Party in the regional elections this April, following a decision by the party's Central Finland board which voted 14-12 not to add Kataja to its candidate list.
Yle found out about the decision from Kataja himself, while the party's head of election campaigns Kari Pajunen refused to confirm the matter. He said the party would release a press statement later this week.
Kataja was previously the party's head of election campaigns in the region, before he was attacked at his home in the summer of 2020. One man was tried and convicted of attempted murder over the attack, but the conviction was overturned on appeal.
Kataja has been expelled from the Finns Party over online criticism of other party members, but he sought and won court action to reverse it.
He still intends to run in the municipal elections, but he will wait for a decision on that from the Jämsä chapter of the Finns Party.
With elections approaching, the All Points North podcast explored why an increasing number of foreigners in Finland are engaging with Finnish politics. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
