Toni Haakila Costa expects conservative values to gain votes

Christian Democratic youth leader Toni Haakila Costa expects young men’s interest in traditional values to show up in the spring parliamentary elections, Yle reports. The 28-year-old is also an aide to party chair Sari Essayah and plans to run for parliament on the party’s list.

Haakila Costa says there is strong demand for conservative politics in Finland. He points to individual members moving from the National Coalition Party’s youth organisation to the Christian Democrats’ youth wing. He also says some members of the Laestadian movement may be looking for a more conservative alternative to the Centre Party. The Christian Democrats, who voted against the trans law, are one option, he says.

Haakila Costa, who married Oona in August, says the Bible is the authority for every part of his life. He hosts a Bible group at their home in Espoo, where eight people pray and discuss scripture every other Thursday. Members follow different Christian traditions, including neo-charismatic and revival movements.

He grew up in a non-religious, Portuguese-Finnish family in Rovaniemi. He joined the church while serving in the army, after answering almost immediately that he wanted to attend confirmation classes, and was baptised there. He says he came to faith several years later, after a difficult breakup led him to pray and watch the series The Chosen.

After another breakup, a friend introduced him to Suhe, a neo-charismatic church in Helsinki’s Kallio district. Haakila Costa says prayer helped him manage anxiety. He decided in autumn 2024 to leave behind temptations and focus on his faith.

He says Christian videos on TikTok and YouTube also helped him through difficult periods when he had no one to talk to. Haakila Costa says he expects the growing interest in Christianity and traditional values among young men to be reflected in the elections.