Social Democratic Party MP Ville Merinen has repeated allegations of serious misconduct against parliamentary aides, including abuse and harassment, claiming the problem is widespread across Finnish political parties.
In a message shared on his Instagram account, Merinen said he stands “100 percent” behind his previous comments aired in the Yle documentary “Vallan algoritmi” (Powers algorithm). In the programme, Merinen described having been approached confidentially by individuals working in the Finnish Parliament who alleged mistreatment by their superiors.
He listed forms of misconduct including physical, sexual and psychological violence, bullying and harassment.
“Think about a situation where you’re fully protected, and if the employee doesn’t please you, you can just say: replace them. They can’t speak out,” Merinen said in the documentary.
He added that he would not publicly identify any individuals involved due to the trust placed in him, referring to his background in therapy as a reason why affected parties had confided in him.
Merinen’s remarks have triggered internal pressure within the SDP. On Wednesday, he demanded an extraordinary meeting of the party’s parliamentary group to address what he referred to as a “massive issue” that was “larger than expected.” According to Ilta-Sanomat, Merinen proposed that the meeting should be led by someone “more neutral” than the current leadership.
Group chair Tytti Tuppurainen declined the request, telling Yle that no extraordinary meeting would be convened due to the lack of official harassment reports and the absence of identifiable cases. Speaking to Helsingin Sanomat, Tuppurainen confirmed that she had spoken to Merinen and was convinced of the seriousness of the issue, calling the situation “grim.”
“There are many cases, some of them very serious,” she said, adding that the phenomenon extended beyond the SDP and affected the Parliament more broadly.
The matter has revealed a divide in how allegations should be handled. Tuppurainen stressed that the group had established procedures for addressing inappropriate behaviour, including a reporting system managed by the group’s secretary general. She also urged anyone who had experienced harassment to file a formal complaint.
“The problem is made more difficult by the fact that these are anonymous cases, which are hard to investigate,” she said.
Rami Lindström, secretary general of the SDP parliamentary group, told Ilta-Sanomat that no formal harassment reports had been submitted during his 18-month tenure. He confirmed that recent internal surveys had uncovered a small number of cases of inappropriate conduct but stated that they did not match the severity described by Merinen.
The Parliament’s Speaker Jussi Halla-aho denied knowledge of such issues. Speaking to Yle, he said he did not recognise the situation Merinen described.
“Merinen has previously made strange claims about the parliamentary work environment that no one else here seems to recognise,” Halla-aho said.
Tuppurainen stressed that any future meeting of the group would require a clear agenda and actionable items.
“As long as there are no formal harassment reports that allow us to identify incidents, individuals and consequences, the matter is difficult to handle,” she said.
HT
