Finland Names World's Youngest Prime Minister
Scandinavia's been getting a lot of attention lately. Sweden's got Greta Thunberg staring daggers of ice into anyone alive when PacMan was invented, Norway's got Olaf from Frozen, and Finland? Well, now they've got themselves the world's youngest prime minister.
Who is this mystery minister? According to Reuters, it's the country's former transportation minister, Sanna Marin, who at age 34 will become the world's youngest serving prime minister when she takes office in the coming days.
Marin, a member of the Social Democratic party, will replace Antti Rinne, who resigned early December "after a party in the coalition, the Centre Party, said it had lost confidence in him following his handling of a postal strike."
"We have a lot of work ahead to rebuild trust," Marin stated after winning a narrow vote among the party leadership.
Reuters notes that Marin, who will also become the country's third female prime minister, has had a "swift rise in Finnish politics since becoming head of the city council of her industrial hometown of Tampere at the age of 27."
A minister in her prime
But with her newfound power comes greater responsibility. She is taking office in the midst of a "wave of strikes," projected to disrupt production at many of Finland's largest companies. Reuters states that "The Confederation of Finnish Industries estimates the strikes will cost the companies a combined 500 million euros ($550 million) in lost revenue."
Still, Marin seems unphased by her rapid rise to the start of the Finnish line of succession, focused less on headlines and more on leading the all-female-led coalition of Finnish parties, according to NPR.
"She brushed away questions about her age and gender, saying she has never thought about either," said NPR's Rob Schmitz. "Instead, she told reporters, she thinks about the reasons she got into politics and the things for which her party has won the trust of the electorate."
Here's hoping Marin can "Sanna-tize" the name of Finland's Social Democratic party.