Timo Soini rules out parliamentary election bid

Former Finns Party leader Timo Soini will not stand in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Yle reported on Saturday. He said he plans to run in the 2029 European Parliament elections instead.

Soini said on Yle’s Ykkösaamu programme that he is considering the Centre Party as his party for the European elections.

In August, Soini said he was considering returning to politics as a Centre Party candidate. “The Centre Party is one good option,” he said.

Soini led the Finns Party from 1997 to 2017. He began his political career in the Finnish Rural Party and has served as a member of the Finnish Parliament, held several ministerial posts and been a member of the European Parliament.

He left frontline politics in 2021.