Halla-aho elected as Speaker, Risikko, Filatov Deputies

Former Chair of the radical rightist Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) Jussi Halla-aho has been elected as the Speaker of the Finnish parliament on Wednesday.

Halla-aho, who is well-known for his anti-immigration position and was also convicted of inciting hatred against an ethnic group in 2012, bagged 134 votes in the 200-seat parliament.

Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) Paula Risikko has been elected as the first Deputy Speaker while main opposition Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) lawmaker Tarja Filatov will continue as the Second Deputy Speaker.

Risikko got 177 votes. Filatov was elected second Deputy Speaker already in April.

The speaker's post is traditionally held by a member of parliament from the second-largest party in the parliament.

Perussuomalaiset is the second largest party of the four party-alliance, which formed the government on Tuesday.

Earlier on June 16, the four political parties announced its programme to reshape economy and tighten immigration laws.

The ruling parties also decided to cut more than four billion euros during its regime, which was strongly criticized by the opposition parties.

Several hundreds of people on June 18 staged demonstration in Helsinki protesting against the tightening immigration policy published by Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) led four-party alliance.