Vehviläinen re-elected Speaker of Parliament

Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland) lawmaker Anu Vehviläinen was re-elected the speaker of the Finnish parliament on Tuesday for the 2021 session.

​​Earlier, Vehviläinen, also a former minister, was elected the speaker on 9 June 2020 to replace Matti Vanhanen, who took over the charge as the finance minister of the country.

Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) leader Tarja Filatov was elected the deputy speaker and Juho Eerola of the Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) was elected the second deputy speaker.

The parliamentary season 2021 will open on Wednesday.

After being elected, Vehviläinen at a press conference said from now on, lawmakers addressing the chamber from the podium will be required to wear face masks.

Parliament will continue its activities in a restricted format, where only 74 out of the 200 lawmakers are allowed to participate in sessions in person at any one time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The speaker and deputy speakers are elected for one annual parliamentary year at a time.