Timo Soini

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timo Soini

Timo Juhani Soini (born 30 May 1962 Rauma, Finland) is the leader of the True Finns party and, since 2003, a member of the Parliament of Finland. He was elected as a member of Espoo city council in 2000.

Timo Soini worked for the food company Linkosuo Oy from 1981 to 1982 and was Secretary General and Chairman of the Kehittyvän Suomen Nuorten Liitto (Youth league of developing Finland) from 1983 to 1992. He graduated as Master of Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki in 1988 and his military rank is corporal. He is a devout Roman Catholic and a fan of Millwall F.C..

He was a member of the Rural Party (Suomen Maaseudun Puolue, SMP), and was Party Secretary General from 1992 to its end in 1995. He joined the True Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset) when it was founded in 1995 and succeeded Raimo Vistbacka as Chairman of the party in 1997.

Soini was his party's candidate in the 2006 Presidential election. He finished fifth out of the eight candidates in the first round, with a vote share of 3.4%. A book about Soini will be released by Tammi on March 2008.