HELSINKI, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Touko Aalto, a 33-year-old Member of Parliament, was elected on Saturday as the new leader of the Finnish Green Party.
He followed Ville Niinisto, who had completed the maximum three two-year term as chairman. The party convention in Tampere confirmed the result. Aalto defeated MP Emma Kari, who came in second.
The Finnish Green Party currently enjoys the largest popularity in its history. In June, a poll carried out by the research institute Taloustutkimus gave it 15-percent backing.
Researchers have said the Greens could even grow further. The party benefits from urbanization and in the decline of the appreciation of materialistic values.
The recent election of a radical right-winger to head the True Finns party may also benefit the Greens, researchers have said.
Talking to the media after the election, Aalto did not want to define future partners of cooperation on the left-right scale.
He took distance from the trend of the recent Finnish governments to introduce corporate practices in public service. "A country cannot be run as a business," he said and defined spreading such views as populism.
In his farewell address, outgoing chairman Ville Niinisto underlined the need to defend the welfare state and equal opportunities.
Niinisto criticized the budget austerity of the current Finnish government, particularly the cuts in funding of education. Niinisto said the Greens could well aim at becoming the prime ministerial party in the future.
Local commentators have characterized the image of newly elected party chairman Aalto as more conciliatory than Niinisto.
