Halla-aho re-elected as Perussuomalaiset Chair

The right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) on Saturday re-elected its chairman Jussi Halla-aho, who's also the only candidates.

Addressing the party convention in Tampere, Halla-aho expressed concern about the image of the party. He said the party has to prove that the alternative it offers is not based on "sinister mind or cruelty" but on realism and common sense.

Halla-aho made news on Saturday through announcing that he had resigned from the hardline right-wing organization "Suomen Sisu", or Guts of Finland. The organization had earlier elected Halla-aho as its honorary member.

Halla-aho declined to say why he had terminated his membership, but only said there were severe differences of opinion.

"Suomen Sisu" was never organizationally tied to the Perussuomalaiset, but served as a base for strongly nationalist views and several of its activists later were elected to parliament through the Perussuomalaiset.

Local commentators said Hallo-aho was clearly trying to guide the party into a direction where it would keep offering a radical alternative, but not arouse fear.

Last week the party youth organization lost its public financial support for 2019, on account of a racist social media entry before the April election. Commentators said it would be vital for the party to be able to attract a wider voter base to be able to become the largest party in the country.

On Saturday, the Perussuomalaiset elected Simo Vesterinen as new party secretary. He told media he is a member of the right wing organization "Suomen Sisu" that Halla-aho had recently left and said he continues to remain there. Halla-aho said later that it is acceptable as the organization has "not done anything illegal".

Vesterinen noted that "20 years ago", "Suomen Sisu" was the only platform for anti-immigrant views before the rise of the Perussuomalaiset.

Local media reported that Halla-aho had actually favored another choice as party secretary.

In the parliamentary election in April, the Perussuomalaiset maintained its position as the second largest party in Finland, with 39 MPs and being the leading opposition party.

In the European parliament, the Perussuomalaiset belongs to the newly established Identity and Democracy group.

The Perussuomalaiset suffered a serious split in 2017 when the former party chairman Timo Soini, part of the parliamentary group and all the party's cabinet ministers left and formed a new party Sininen Tulevaisuus (Blue Reform).

In the April election, Sininen Tulevaisuus did not get any seat in parliament. Soini was no longer running.