The outgoing prime minister of Finland announced she is divorcing her husband on Wednesday, just a few months after she was criticized for partying and dancing "intimately" with another man.
Sanna Marin, 37, and Markus Raikkonen, her spouse of three years, announced on Instagram Stories that they had jointly applied for divorce. Per NY Post, the former couple married in August 2020, during Finland's COVID-19 pandemic, when they were still engaged.
Finland Prime Minister's Party Scandal
The youthful prime minister's final months in office were marred by several scandals involving her personal life. In August of the previous year, she was criticized after smuggled footage of her twerking at a party with a group of friends surfaced.
Marin issued a heartfelt public contrition later on. Despite the blunder, Marin remained popular among younger moderates, with many praising her as a role model for younger progressive millennial leaders.
To silence her detractors, she was compelled to deny that she was under the influence of narcotics, and a drug test confirmed her denial. Soon after, grainy footage of Marin dancing "intimately" with musical sensation Olavi Uusivirta in a nightclub was made public.
Marin was spotted rubbing on the singer, who insisted they were not having an affair and that "nothing untoward" occurred. Marin courageously refused to apologize for her revelry, stating that her only regret was that private footage had been made public.
The leader was then subjected to additional criticism after a photograph of two women embracing at her vacation palace surfaced. While her harshest detractors asserted she was unsuited to lead the nation, others asserted she was a victim of age and gender-based double standards.
Last month, she conceded after her Social Democratic Party lost the Finnish parliamentary election. She is anticipated to resign as party leader when the new legislature convenes in the fall.
Sanna Marrin's Political Dispute
Marin and Raikkonen, who worked at a venture capital firm until recently, have a daughter who is five years old. Marin is viewed as a millennial role model for progressive new leaders by fans worldwide, although voters at home elected a new government.
Per The Sun, the couple began dating at 18 and exchanged vows in a small ceremony at the end of 2020. Emma, their five-year-old daughter, is shared by the couple. The "fairly crazy" leader was not re-elected as Finland's prime minister on April 2 after serving as the world's youngest premier since assuming the position in 2019 at 34.
During the political dispute, numerous women rallied to her defense, claiming the criticism was misogynistic and posting videos of themselves dancing in solidarity. Despite the negative headlines, Marin has been praised for her vocal support of Ukraine and for steering her country through the pandemic.
She has also been praised for advocating for Finland's successful NATO membership application. On April 3, Finland, which shares a long frontier with Russia, became the 31st member of NATO after overcoming the last remaining obstacles to joining.
The day before, Marin conceded defeat to the center-right National Coalition Party in Finland's election, leaving Marin's Social Democratic Party in third place. In 2020, Sanna Marin and Markus Raikkonen were married in a simple ceremony at Kesaranta, the leader's official residence, in the presence of forty of their closest friends and relatives, SCMP reported.
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