A positive alternative. For an open, outward-looking Finland.
Finland deserves a positive alternative to scraping by and a downward spiral of decline. A positive alternative to politics that pits us against one another. A positive alternative that future generations can believe in. That's why I'm standing in the 2027 parliamentary election.
Matti Lehto. A Green liberal from Helsinki standing for the Finnish Parliament.
Parliamentary election 2027
Election day: Sunday 18 April 2027.
Advance voting: 7–13 April 2027 in Finland and 7–10 April 2027 abroad.
Candidate: Matti Lehto is standing for the Greens in the Helsinki constituency. Helsinki elects 23 Members of Parliament.
Campaign priorities: A forward-looking economy, equal access to education and culture, and opportunities for all.
My vision of a liberal Finland built on knowledge, culture and freedomAn economy that supports work. Work that supports life.
Let's bring our economy into the 21st century. Tax work less and harmful activities more. Cut back on inefficient business subsidies that damage nature or distort competition. Restore the exempt amount that allows people to earn some income without losing unemployment benefits, then gradually introduce a basic income so that work always pays.
Let's also rethink working life so that earning a living doesn't mean sacrificing our wellbeing. A three-day weekend should be within reach of more people.
Education and culture for all are not outdated ideals. Quite the opposite.
We need more places in higher education, not more young people forced into gap years. And we need to invest properly in our universities and other higher education institutions. Finland's story has been one of equal access to education, but we are now falling behind. It's time to raise our educational attainment. Rather than relying on an endless succession of short-term projects, we need sustained investment and stability across our schools and higher education system.
Literacy, critical thinking and curiosity matter not despite the way the world is changing, but precisely because of it. Let's introduce a new cultural investment package to support Finnish literature.
Solving the world's biggest problems is good business. Let's lead the way.
When we rise to the challenges of our time, we help shape the future. The world needs solutions to halt biodiversity loss and tackle climate change. Populations are ageing, AI is transforming the way we work, almost everything is going digital and the risk of pandemics is growing. Let's build an economy that tackles the defining challenges of our time.
The future has rarely belonged to those who put on the brakes. That's why we need to accelerate the green transition, not slow it down. Let's remove barriers to start-up funding, make it easier to invest in wind and solar power and turn Finland into a country where people from around the world can easily come to work.
Let city life flourish!
City dwellers deserve someone in their corner. Yet during this parliamentary term, the government has raised VAT on public transport, made it harder to build affordable homes, imposed additional cuts on Helsinki's health and social care services and hit low-income residents of the capital particularly hard.
On Helsinki City Council, we have done what we can to offset cuts, including those made to culture by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's government. But one thing is clear: in the next parliamentary term, Helsinki needs a stronger voice in Parliament too.
We can all live more freely when we stop moralising.
We all benefit when discrimination and hate speech are taken seriously and challenged. When minorities are free, we are all free. After the farce of so-called "zero tolerance", it's time to show once again that Finland is an open, compassionate country that puts human rights at the heart of politics.
We brought homelessness down by moving away from moral judgement and focusing on practical solutions. Let's take the same approach to drug policy, including by introducing supervised drug consumption facilities.
Why am I standing for Parliament?
I was driven to enter politics by a determination to build an open, equal and outward-looking Finland. The inward-looking direction our country is taking is only making us all poorer.
In recent years, confidence in the future has been traded away for short-sighted cuts. We build that confidence by making sure no one is left behind, tackling the climate crisis decisively and consistently making choices that will help Finland thrive in the years ahead.
I call my politics “sivistysliberalismi”: a form of liberalism rooted in education, culture and equal opportunity. To me, the defining question of liberalism isn't whether I can have a bottle of wine delivered to my door to go with Sunday night's risotto. It's whether a child whose parents are struggling with substance misuse has the same chance of a good life as the child next door.
When the foundations of society are cracking, we cannot build something new using yesterday's tools. We need to radically rethink the welfare state of the future, not simply tinker with the old model, but build one that reflects the realities of tomorrow.
If you agree, get involved.
Photography: Henri Vogt