Finland Times

The Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party), one of the components of the three-party alliance government, got more time to deal with its image problem caused by a nationalistic and anti-immigrant social media post written by its Member of Parliament Olli Immonen, as Immonen on Wednesday asked for a temporary exit from the party's parliamentary caucus.

     Chairman of the caucus Sampo Terho said that while Immonen is not in the caucus, sanctions against him cannot be enacted by his fellow MPs.

     The write-up by Immonen earlier this summer, which advocated "pure Finland" and "fight against multiculturalism," caused a national uproar and several demonstrations. Immonen withdrew from publicity and only first time showed up for media on Wednesday.

     The party chairman, Foreign Minister Timo Soini, has managed to keep a public distance from the issue, saying that the matter was left for the parliamentary group to decide.

     Terho said on Wednesday that Immonen would reapply for membership in two months and then the opinions of his fellow MPs of the Finns Party would be weighed.

     Immonen said he had intended his write-up as a mentally uplifting experience to his friends in Finland and abroad. Terho said Immonen should have formulated the text differently.

  

   Finnish police has concluded that Immonen's text does not qualify as a crime and no police investigation will be launched.

     Immonen also said why he earlier in the summer posed in a picture with members of the Finnish Resistance Group at the memorial of Eugen Schauman who shot and killed a Russian governor general in Finland in 1904. Immonen said that members of the Resistance Group had joined the event on their own and he was there with another organization The Staunchness of Finland.

     The Finnish Resistance Group has been associated with violent behaviour.

     Media reports concerning Finns Party have also mentioned some strong statements including that of the party secretary Riitta Slunga-Poutsalo who described some asylum applicants as "welfare surfers" and used the term "illegal asylum seeker."

     The Immigration Service reacted and the head of the asylum section Esko Repo told media that there was no such thing as an "Illegal asylum seeker."

     "People seeking an asylum are legal in Finland for the duration of their processing, even they would not have travel documents," Repo said. "Their stays are illegal until asylum is not given and decision to deport is legally valid," Repo said.