It was 7 pm in Helsinki on Sunday, June 9. The results of the European elections were displayed on the giant screen set up in the headquarters of the Left Alliance (UEM). In a red dress decorated with small white flowers, with a black blazer draped over her shoulders, Li Andersson, 37, appeared to be in shock. Her radical left-wing party came in second, behind conservative Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's National Coalition Party and ahead of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), with 17.3% of the vote, up 10.4 points in 2019.

She personally got the most votes (in the Nordic countries, you can also vote individually for the candidates on each list), beating the record set in 1996. A total of 247,604 Finns ticked her name on their ballot paper, i.e. 13.5% of voters. In northern Europe, the UEM leader is in good company: In Denmark, the Green Left party came out on top, and in Sweden, the Left Party recorded the biggest increase.

Contacted by phone in Brussels, where she went after the election, Andersson explained the breakthrough of a "modern red and green left," which runs counter to the rise of the far right elsewhere in Europe, by several factors. Firstly, she sees it as the success of a policy that combines "the fight for equality and better working conditions with an ambitious climate and environmental policy, as well as the defense of the rule of law and human rights, and solidarity with Ukraine and Palestine."

Andersson also pointed out that in Finland, voters have seen the results of a far-right government. Since June 2023, the conservatives have been governing with the Finns party. "They have done absolutely nothing to improve the daily lives of ordinary people. Quite the opposite. The trade union movement is under historic attack, working conditions are deteriorating, social protection is being severely cut and the government has made a 180-degree turn on the fight against global warming and environmental protection."

Andersson was only able to savor her victory for a few days before the news caught up with her. On Friday, June 14, in a shopping mall in Oulu, western Finland, a man armed with a knife wounded a 12-year-old girl, who, according to the police, was targeted because of her foreign origin.

The suspect was identified as one of the three neo-Nazis who had already assaulted a security guard on January 30, 2013, in Jyväskylä, on the sidelines of a public reading, in which Andersson was taking part. This latest attack "shows just how much of a threat far-right racism and violence are to Finland," she reacted on X, calling for a major national debate on the subject.

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