Laura Huhtasaari

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MEP
Laura Huhtasaari
File:Laura Huhtasaari.jpg
Huhtasaari in 2016
Member of the Finnish Parliament
for Satakunta
In office
22 April 2015 – 2 July 2019
Member of the European Parliament for Finland
Assumed office
3 July 2019
Personal details
Born (1979-03-30) 30 March 1979 (age 45)
Mänttä, Pirkanmaa, Finland[1]
Political party Finns Party
Other political
affiliations		 Identity and Democracy
Residence Brussels, Belgium[2]
Education Master of Education
Alma mater University of Jyväskylä
Occupation Politician, businesswoman, teacher

Laura Huhtasaari (born 30 March 1979) is a Finnish politician, businesswoman and teacher. As a member of the Finns Party, she has represented Satakunta in the Parliament of Finland from April 2015 to July 2019.[3] She was the Finns Party candidate for the 2018 Finnish presidential election. In 2019 Huhtasaari was elected to the European Parliament with 92,760 votes[4][5]

Life and career

Huhtasaari graduated as Master of Education in 2004. She has worked as an elementary teacher and a special education teacher.[6] She was elected to the City Council of Pori with 1,064 votes in 2012[7] and again with 2,566 votes in 2017.[8] She stood in the 2014 European Parliament election and received 9,132 votes[9] but was not elected. In 2015 Huhtasaari was elected to the Parliament with 9,259 votes.[10] In the Parliament, she is currently member of the Legal Affairs Committee, the Education and Culture Committee and the Finnish Delegation to the Nordic Council.

Huhtasaari endorsed Jussi Halla-aho for president of the Finns Party.[11] She was elected first vice president of the Finns Party on 10 June 2017, the same day when Halla-aho was elected president.[12] On 4 August 2017, Huhtasaari was chosen as the presidential candidate of the Finns Party.[13] In the election, Huhtasaari placed third with 6.9 percent of the votes, while the incumbent president Sauli Niinistö went on to secure his second term with a majority of votes.[14]

Views

Huhtasaari believes that the European Union is going to collapse and Finland should leave the EU.[15] She accused the EU of trying to turn Finland into a state, which she described as a threat to Finnish interest, sovereignty and democracy. She also suggested that Finland withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty and Paris Agreement, and ban Islam from the country.[16][17]

Huhtasaari opposes Finland becoming a member of NATO but supports developing cooperation with the alliance.[18] She is a supporter of former President of the United States Donald Trump.[19][20] As a Eurosceptic, she strongly defends the Brexit decision.[21] She also believes that the president of Finland should have more power.[22]

Huhtasaari is a creationist and believes that evolution is a "totally impossible theory".[23] She has also said that Finland should reject international agreements to prevent economic migrants from coming to Finland.[24]

Thesis plagiarism

During the 2018 presidential election campaign, Huhtasaari was accused of plagiarising parts of her 2003 M.Sc. thesis.[25] The matter was investigated by her alma mater, the University of Jyväskylä, with the conclusion that only 10 per cent of the thesis was plagiariased, and that the plagiarism was not particularly serious considering the policies of the university at the time.[26]

However, in May 2018, Finland's national public broadcasting company YLE reported that approximately 30 per cent of the thesis was plagiarised, after an YLE journalist identified a previously unknown source for the text in Huhtasaari's thesis.[27][28] Huhtasaari responded by claiming to have written the dissertation in good faith, relying on any shortcomings being detected during the review process.[29] She also claimed to have followed the university's own guidance regarding citing of earlier theses, namely that such citations were (allegedly) advised against, as dissertations could not be guaranteed to be of sufficiently high academic standards.[30] To defend her integrity, Huhtasaari published a positive employment certificate for her 1-year-tenure as a second-grade teacher at an elementary school in the Marshall islands from April 2000.[31]

The University of Jyväskylä released its detailed report in August 2018, finding serious plagiarism and disregard for the scientific method throughout Huhtasaari's thesis.[32] As the statute of limitations had passed, the university will not pursue further action.[32]

Elections contested

Presidential elections

Year Votes  % Result
2018 207,337 6.9 3rd

Parliamentary elections

Year Constituency Votes Result
2011 Satakunta 1,950 Backup
2015 Satakunta 9,259 Elected
2019 Satakunta 12,986 Elected

European Parliament elections

Year Constituency Votes Result
2014 Finland 9,132 Not elected
2019 Finland 92,760 Elected

Municipal elections

Year Municipality Constituency Votes Result
2012 Pori Satakunta 1,064 Elected
2017 Pori Satakunta 2,566 Elected

References

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  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Finland’s Marine Le Pen. POLITICO. Author - Reid Standish. Published 26 January 2018. Updated 29 January 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Yle report: Finns Party presidential candidate's master's thesis "systematically plagiarised" YLE 11.5.2018
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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