As of Thursday, Sanna Marin (SDP) had been prime minister for 367 days, making her Finland’s longest-serving female prime minister.
Marin’s centre-left cabinet was sworn in on 10 December 2019, so she has now been in the post for 371 days.
The previous record was held by Mari Kiviniemi (Cen), who held the office from 22 June 2010 to 22 June 2011, a total of 366 days. After holding a senior post at the OECD, she is now Managing Director of the Federation of Finnish Commerce.
Finland’s first female premier, Anneli Jäätteenmäki (Cen), was only in office for 69 days, from 17 April to 24 June 2003. She was forced to step down over accusations that she lied to Parliament about leaked Foreign Ministry documents. Last year Jäätteenmäki left the European Parliament after 15 years as an MEP.
Only three of Finland’s 46 prime ministers have been women since independence in 1917.
Youngest PM
After serving less than half a year as Minister of Transport and Communications, Marin took over as prime minister from fellow SDP politician Antti Rinne in early December last year. At 34, Marin was at the time the world’s youngest premier, as well as Finland's youngest ever.
Rinne resigned under circumstances that remain somewhat unclear, related to his handling of a long-running postal strike. The former union boss is now the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Marin finally replaced him as party chair last August.
MP Antti Lindtman also sought the premiership. However, the SDP party council narrowly selected Marin by a vote of 32-29.