Timo Soini - Parliamentary Election 2011

Parliamentary Election 2011

The True Finns obtained 39 seats in the 2011 election, making them the third largest party. Soini received 43 437 personal votes (1,5% of all votes), the highest amount of all of the candidates. Soini managed to raise the popularity of the party from 4.1% to 19.1% in four years. Helsingin Sanomat opined in an editorial that Soini "rewrote the electoral history books". According to the BBC, behind Soini's success was "brain, wit and charisma". A political analyst and university professor pointed to Soini's oratorical skills and ability to appeal to common people and make complicated things look easy. The election result was also referred to as "shocking" and "exceptional". During the government negotiations following the election the True Finns decided against participating in Katainen's coalition cabinet, citing greatly differing stances on the EU, especially regarding bailouts for debt-ridden euro countries.