Finland's Parliament Picks World's Youngest Sitting PM
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 7:28 am
FILE - Sanna Marin, smiles after she won the SDP's Prime Minister candidate vote against Antti Lindtman, in Helsinki, Finland, Dec. 8, 2019.
HELSINKI - Finland's parliament chose Sanna Marin as the country's new prime minister Tuesday, making the 34-year-old the world's youngest sitting head of government.
Marin is heading a five-party, center-left coalition. The four other parties in the coalition are headed by women _ three of whom are in their early 30s.
The Nordic country's Parliament, the 200-seat Eduskunta approved Marin in a 99-70 vote. The government has a comfortable majority of 117 seats.
President Sauli Niinisto will formally hand Marin her mandate later Tuesday, after which she will officially become prime minister.
The appointment of Marin and her new government on Tuesday allows Marin to represent Finland at the European Union summit in Brussels later this week . Finland currently holds the bloc's rotating presidency until the end of the year.