Just the first in a series of leaders who are gonna fall....Blair Next....then W
Finns in Shock as "Iraqgate" Topples Jaeaetteenmaeki
Agence France-Presses
Friday 20 June 2003
Finland was in a political vacuum after a Nordic version of Iraqgate brought down Anneli
Jaeaetteenmaeki, the country's first-ever woman prime minister, after only 63 days in power.
Fresh elections were seen as unlikely Thursday, and Jaeaetteenmaeki was expected to head
an interim government before handing over to her successor, tipped to be current Defense
Minister Matti Vanhanen, a veteran of her own Center Party.
Jaeaetteenmaeki resigned suddenly late Wednesday amid claims she lied to parliament about
her use of leaked secret government documents, becoming the first ever prime minister to resign
amid a scandal.
"If someone comes before parliament and lies straight to our faces, then we cannot trust a
prime minister like this," said Greens leader Osmo Soininvaara.
Transparency and openness are highly regarded in Finland, and the country consistently tops
the list of least corrupt nations.
"When the trust is gone, it's gone, and I've lost it," Jaeaettenmaeki acknowledged dryly after it
was clear that her time as prime minister was up.
The crisis erupted after a presidential aide, Martti Manninen, said the prime minister had misled
parliament when she vowed she had not requested summaries of classified documents he sent to
her ahead of the March elections.
Many attributed her victory in those polls to the revelations in the documents.
Just days earlier, Jaeaetteenmaeki cited confidential foreign ministry documents to support her
claim that then-prime minister Paavo Lipponen was supporting the United States over Iraq, in
clear defiance of Finland's official stand of neutrality.
President Tarja Halonen accepted Jaeaetteenmaeki's resignation, but asked her and her team
to stay on until a new administration is formed.
On Thursday, the president's office also said that Manninen had been fired from his job.
Jaeaetteenmaeki's centre-left government, inaugurated on April 17 and Finland's first to be led
by a woman, lasted only 63 days.
"The best solution would be to continue on the current basis and change only the prime
minister," Markku Rajala, Centre Party spokesman, told AFP.
"I think that our vice chairman, Matti Vanhanen, would be the best to take over," he said.
Jaeaetteenmaeki had been due to attend a European Union summit in Greece on Thursday.
Finland will now be represented by Finance Minister Antti Kalliomaeki and the president, officials
said.
The Finnish parliament was expected to debate next Tuesday whether to replace the entire
government or only Jaeaetteenmaeki, and a decision was anticipated a couple of days after that,
officials said.
The Centre Party's main coalition partner, the Social Democrats, said they would be happy to
continue in government with the current three-party coalition, which also consists of the Swedish
People's Party.
"The basis of the government is a valid one, and we have no problems with continuing on this
basis," Reijo Paananen, spokesman for the Social Democratic Party, told AFP.
According to legal experts, Jaeaetteenmaeki could be prosecuted and face a maximum penalty
of two years in jail if it was proven that she did indeed solicit the secret material.
On Wednesday, Jaeaetteenmaeki, who was questioned by police on the matter last week, told
parliament she had only received excerpts of the documents from Manninen without requesting it.
"I never asked for these and they came to me as a surprise," she said.
Manninen immediately disputed this view, telling media that Jaeaetteenmaeki had asked him for
the information and had even given him her secret fax number, and that telephone records would
prove his version of the story.
On Thursday many questioned her role as Center Party chairman, with some suggesting she
should step down.
"She can draw her own conclusions. We trust she knows what she should do, just like she
proved she did as prime minister," said party official Jarmo Korhonen.
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