About 700 municipal election candidates told Yle that they have faced harassment and threats during their campaigns.
Several candidates told Yle that their campaign posters had been ruined, while some said their cars had been blown up. A few said they were at risk of physical violence. Several female candidates reported experiencing sexual harassment both online and in person.
The destruction or destruction of political party posters has been a feature of this campaign. The offices of the Left Alliance and the Green Party were tainted with offensive slogans and symbols in both Oulu and Pori.
This week’s Yle News All Points North podcast explored the full atmosphere of this parliamentary term, whose online anger has risen to unprecedented levels in Finland.
You can listen to the entire podcast using the embedded player here or through Yle Areena, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or a standard podcast player via an RSS feed.
The article continues after the sound.
Aishi ZidanA spokesperson for the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo) told Yle by e-mail that election candidates and other political actors in Finland are increasingly being harassed, especially online.
Securing democracy is one of Supo’s tasks.
While hate speech is on the rise, Supo said he is aware of any concrete or organized threats to political parties.
At the same time, a recent report by the Finnish Association of Local and Regional Authorities found that fear of harassment affected more than half of municipal councilors’ desire to defend re-election.
Yle sent a questionnaire to the offices of all parliamentary groups as well as to regional and local offices. The study received 1,800 responses from 13 parties. With 35,600 people representing the local office in the election process, the responses represent 5 percent of all candidates.
All Points North’s in-depth interviews with the leaders of all Finnish political parties before the June 13 elections are available at Yle Areena.
_Check if you can vote at canivote. We have compiled a really simple guide to local elections in Finland, and you can also get to know our election compass in English here.
Source: The Nordic Page