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Political party in Finland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Freedom Alliance (Finnish: Vapauden Liitto, VL),[3][4] is a right-wing populist registered political party in Finland.[5] The party was founded by Ossi Tiihonen as a result of a split from the Power Belongs to the People (VKK) party in February 2022,[6] receiving 5,000 signatures on 19 April 2022, and being later registered on 6 May 2022.[7][8]
 |
Freedom Alliance | |
|---|---|
_logo.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Abbreviation | VL |
| Chairperson | Ossi Tiihonen |
| Secretary | Lasse Paananen |
| Vice-Chairpeople | Heli Rämäkkö Niko A. Kauko Pekka Timonen |
| Founded | February 2022[1] |
| Split from | Power Belongs to the People |
| Headquarters | Antinkatu 3D, 00100 Helsinki |
| Ideology | National conservatism Right-wing populism Euroscepticism Paasikivi-Kekkonen doctrine Direct democracy |
| Political position | Right-wing to far-right |
| Colours | Yellow White[2] |
| Eduskunta | 0 / 200 |
| European Parliament | 0 / 15 |
| Municipalities | 17 / 8,859 |
| County seats | 6 / 1,379 |
| Website | |
| vapaudenliitto | |
The Freedom Alliance was founded by influential members of the Power Belongs to the People (VKK) party following a party split related to the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin,[9] alongside the leadership style and organization of the political party and the religiosity of the party.[10]
Ossi Tiihonen, who founded the Freedom Alliance, is a regional councilor for Lohja and a former member of the Finns Party and the VKK.[10] Cia Grönborg, the former party secretary of VL, and Heli Rämäkkö, a vice-chairwoman of the VL, were both influential members of the VKK and have worked as a regional councilors for Espoo and Seinäjoki, respectively. They later left the VKK due to the leadership style and what they perceived as authoritarianism and the apparent lack of freedom to criticize the party leadership under Ano Turtiainen.[10] Turtiainen accused the splitters of being only self-interested.[10]
The Freedom Alliance advocates for Finland to leave the European Union and condemns the EU as being anti-democratic, globalist and elitist.[11] The Freedom Alliance is also against NATO and the United States, proclaiming that cooperation with the United States has made Finland a satellite state.[12][13] The party can be described as against transatlanticism, instead wishing for the return to the Paasikivi–Kekkonen doctrine.[14] Despite the opposition to the European Union, the Freedom Alliance wishes to promote European and international cooperation.[15]
The party promotes conspiratorial ideas, denying the existence of climate change, claiming that the European Union is "force-feeding harmful green ideology, which the Finnish MEPs cast their green plagues on the Finnish people."[16] The Freedom Alliance is against what they describe to be the "neoliberal New World Order", in which the "EU-virus" is promoting mass immigration, gender diversity, and "men who give birth."[17][18]
The Freedom Alliance is against the sanctions on the Russian Federation for their territorial conquests, stating it to be hypocritical, illogical and emotional.[19] The party believes that Ukraine is a proxy client state of the United States, and that Ukraine is oppressing its Russian-speaking population, suppressing its peoples' freedom of speech and political power.[20][21]
The Freedom Alliance describes itself as a individualist and localist party.[22] The party is in favour of what it describes as "bringing back" freedom of speech, and the party promotes classical liberal ideas in relation to society, stating the need for various freedoms.[note 1] The party also believes in the right to privacy, opposing the proposed European Digital Identity.[15] In relation to healthcare, the party wishes to promote freedom to choose healthcare provider, either private or public, the party also wishes to give unemployed jobseekers the right to a free health check-up, and to invest into healthcare services for the elderly and caregivers.[15] The party wishes to promote direct democracy, however in order to achieve that wishes to promote education and enlightenment about state affairs, especially in relation to the Constitution of Finland.[23]
The party wishes to abolish Forced Swedish in schooling and believes in freedom of choice in language learning. The Freedom Alliance believes that Finland is a trilingual country, and that people should have the right get services in the official national languages, alongside in the Sámi languages.[24]
The party wishes to stop non-work-based immigration, however still wishes to allow humanitarian immigrants or asylum seekers, the party states it will perform a mass deportation of illegal immigrants and re-examine the application of every accepted refugee.[25] The party also opposes affirmative action, and wishes to "rationalize" violation of religious peace laws, and remove incitement to ethnic or racial hatred from the criminal code.[15]
The Freedom Alliance in relation to the Finnish economy, wishes to reinstate the markka as the sole currency to promote national economic growth,[26] promote self-sufficiency in order to keep the welfare state, as according to the party it is incompatible with the European Union. The Freedom Alliance also supports independent free trade, separate from the European Union. The party wishes to lower the value-added tax (VAT) to 15 percent, lower taxation of domestic food and food production, expand mining jobs, especially promote self-sufficiency in relation to agriculture and energy, wishes to renew the pension insurance system. [15]
The Freedom Alliance has been described as pro-Russian,[27][28] though the party's vice chair has rejected the label.[29] Another point of controversy is the party's support for the candidacy of Juha Korhonen, a media entrepreneur known to be a supporter of the Nordic Resistance Movement,[30][31][32] a domestic terrorist group.[33] Junes Lokka, a candidate in the European Parliament elections and a town councillor for the Freedom Alliance, who has been sentenced two times for incitement against an ethnic group,[34] and is known to have attended Nordic Resistance Movement events.[35]
The party ran in the 2023 parliamentary election in an electoral alliance with the Crystal Party and Finnish People First,[36] but won no seats.[37] The party supported the candidacy of Saara Huhtasaari in the 2024 Finnish presidential election,[38] but was unable to gather enough support for registration. The party nominated candidates for the 2024 European Parliament election,[39] notably including Teuvo Hakkarainen,[40] a member of the European Parliament who was expelled from the Finns Party due to his affiliation with the Freedom Alliance.[41][42]
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 27,526 | 0.89% | 0 / 200 |
New | Extra-parliamentary |
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 16,717 | 0.91 (#9) | 0 / 15 |
New | – |
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