The biggest paper in northern Finland, Oulu’s Kaleva, looks ahead to Friday morning’s leadership vote in the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The second-largest party in the government and Parliament is selecting a new chair at a convention in the western town of Seinäjoki. Current chair Jutta Urpilainen – who is also the finance minister and deputy prime minister – faces a strong challenge from Antti Rinne, head of the Pro union.
Nearly 500 party delegates are to begin voting around 9 am. The result should be clear by about 11 am. They will also elect other leaders including a party secretary and three deputy chairs.
Turning to health, Kaleva previews a dissertation to be presented on Friday at the University of Tampere. The study indicates that women who suffer from a condition known as intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) have a higher risk of developing breast cancer later. They are also more likely to develop hypothyroidism than other women. ICP is a liver condition that affects about one in every 100 expectant mothers.
On a lighter note, the paper reports that the Finnish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, “Something Better” by the pop-rock band Softengine, has advanced to Saturday’s final.
At the semi-finals in Copenhagen on Thursday night, the band was the next-to-last to be named of 10 selected finalists.
The others are Switzerland, Slovenia, Poland, Romania, Norway, Greece, Malta, Belarus and Austria.
TS: Healthcare worries and fringe parties
Turun Sanomat, published in Finland’s former capital, Turku, leads off with comments by Minister of Health and Social Services Susanna Huovinen on the sweeping reforms of social and healthcare services. She says she cannot promise that the new law will include clear ground rules for producers of such services.
TS notes that uncertainty about the future of the health and social services is already having knock-on effects in municipalities. For instance, two towns in the Turku region, Koski and Marttila, have halted moves to transfer their social services operations to the regional Härkätie cooperative district. The move comes in protest against the state’s fluctuating reform policies, which have been subject to dramatic shifts of direction within the past couple of years.
The paper also takes a local look at the European Parliament electoral campaign. Turun Sanomat notes that all but one of the eight small political parties not represented in the current Finnish Parliament are fielding candidates in the race. The only one that does not have any candidates running for a seat in Strasbourg is the Communist Workers’ Party. Six fringe-party candidates are from south-western Finland. They represent the Independence Party, the Pirate Party and Muutos 2011 (Change 2011).
Metro: Sports, beer and May Day follow-up
The capital-region freesheet Metro devotes most of its front page to decidedly weekend-ish topics. The main headlines focus on Helsinki’s best beer terraces and a narrow win for the football team HJK under new head coach Mika Lehkosuo. Also on the front page: the Ice Hockey World Championships kick off in Belarus, the new Ferris wheel by Helsinki harbour is named after the national airline, and police have given the Left Alliance new wooden flagpoles. The sticks replace those police officers broke after a May Day march, claiming they had been intended as weapons. Police have also apologised for overreacting to the poles, which were part of standard Left party rally equipment.
