When Sanna Marin, 34, was sworn into office on Tuesday, she became the world’s youngest prime minister, a fact that drew international attention this week when her party elected her as Finland’s next leader.

But while the world is just becoming acquainted with the new, left-leaning leader, Ms. Marin has been a rising star in Finland’s Social Democratic Party since first entering Parliament in 2015. For many, she was a natural choice for her new role.

“She doesn’t come out of nowhere,” said Johanna Kantola, a professor of gender studies at Finland’s Tampere University. “And she is quite well-liked.”

Ms. Marin was voted in by her party after a turbulent week in which Prime Minister Antti Rinne resigned over criticism from within his coalition government of the handling of a postal workers’ strike. Mr. Rinne will continue as chief of the Social Democrats. She takes up the leadership at a volatile, polarized time in Finnish politics. In elections in April, the Social Democrats only narrowly edged out the right-wing, populist Finns Party, winning the premiership for the first time in 16 years, but polls indicate that the Finns Party has gained in popularity since then.

In those elections, support for centrist parties fell, and no party won even 18 percent of the vote. When Mr. Rinne ran into troubles, none of his coalition partners wanted to risk bringing down the new coalition and rolling the dice on another election. Read more via New York Times

If the New Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin’s Childhood is Anything To Go By, She’s Going to be an Able Match for the Far-Right

Raised in a rainbow family, 34-year-old Sanna Marin will lead a five-party coalition headed entirely by women in Finland. Her experience growing up with same-sex parents will shape her tenure as Finland’s youngest Prime Minister ever.

This week, Sanna Marin became the third female Prime Minister of Finland and the youngest head of government in the world at the moment. The rest of the Finnish coalition is entirely female led, formed by Li Anderson, Maria Ohisalo, Katri Kulmuni and Anna-Maja Henriksson. Only Henriksson, Minister of Justice, is over 35.

Marin has made global headlines for being currently the youngest Prime Minister in the world, for being the child of lesbian parents, for being part of an all-female coalition, but the truth is that the party she leads, the Social Democrats, are not so beloved in Finland. In fact, the country’s most popular politician is 48 year-old Jussi Halla-aho, the leader of the populist Finns party, which has almost twice as much support as the Social Democrats.

Marin’s rise to the top of the political ladder points to a war about to be waged between the new and the old, a generation defined by the uncompromising, anti-establishment passion of climate-crisis activist Greta Thunberg and one defined by the uncompromising passion of the patriarchal establishment, as defined by populist leaders from Putin to Trump, Bolsonaro to Orbán.

With Marin as Finland’s Prime Minister, that battle between is well and truly on and the world will be watching to see which style of politics comes out on top. Climate change, equality and social welfare are Marin’s top priorities. “Finland will not be finished in four years but it can get better,” she said recently on social media. “That’s what we’re working on. I want to build a society where every child can become anything and every person can live and grow in dignity.” Read more via ILGA