The current Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, and her spouse Markus Raikkonen, have filed for divorce.
“We are grateful for the 19 years together and our beloved daughter,” shared Ms. Marin via a post on Instagram this Wednesday.
They officially tied the knot in 2020, in the midst of Ms. Marin’s leadership of Finland’s pandemic response, and have a daughter who is five years old.
Ms. Marin’s departure from her position is expected following the defeat of her centre-left party in the recent general election.
In an Instagram story post, she mentioned that she remains “still best friends” with Mr Raikkonen, who is involved in business and was previously a professional footballer.
“We will continue to spend time together as a family and with each other,” she further elaborated.
At 37 years of age, Ms. Marin took office as the world’s youngest prime minister in 2019.
However, she was narrowly beaten by the National Coalition Party, led by Petteri Orpo, and the right-wing populist Finns Party, helmed by Riikka Purra, in the elections this April.
This was a significant setback for Ms. Marin. Despite expanding her party’s representation and achieving 19.9% of the vote, her allied parties experienced substantial losses in seats.
Her administration has officially stepped down, but will maintain a caretaker role until the establishment and confirmation of a new government. Mr Orpo expressed his expectation to finalize negotiations by June.
Throughout her in the office, Ms. Marin has consistently received high approval ratings, earning reputation for guiding Finland into Nato and managing the nation’s response to the Covid-19 crisis.
However, she is a contentious figure domestically, with recent media attention focusing on her personal life.
She has been the subject of criticism for her perceived fondness for social gatherings, particularly following the circulation of a video on social media in August 2022 showing her singing, dancing, and consuming alcohol at a party.
In response to the video, which was filmed on “private premises” during “an evening with friends”, Ms Marin faced numerous complaints alleging that her behavior had undermined Finland’s “reputation and security”.
She underwent a drugs test, which returned a negative result, to address concerns about her behavior, and was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the parliament.
This incident resulted in a surge of support for Ms. Marin, with many women in Finland posting videos of themselves dancing in solidarity on social media.
