Sanna
Marin, 36, is Finland’s youngest-ever prime minister. Her ascent to the top
seat in the European nation’s polity came as the country felt that its
political system was in the urgent need of a shake-up. And shake it up she has.
Marin, who was appointed Finland Prime Minister in 2019, was seen dancing
exuberantly in a string of Instagram stories that have now become public.
Videos of Marin dancing have taken social media by storm. While many have
criticised the Finland PM calling her irresponsible there are others who have
come out in her support.

All the
dancing

At the heart
of the controversy is the claim that in the video leaked to the internet,
people in the background are heard talking about cocaine, according to a
POLITICO report citing Finnish local media reports. Mikko Karna, a member of
the Finnish Parliament, has called on the prime minister to take a drug test and
release the results publicly. “The people are also allowed to expect this from
their prime minister.”

Sanna
Marin, on her part, organised a press conference to answer questions on the
controversy. She said she had danced, celebrated and done legal things and
denied doing drugs. She also slammed the person who released the videos saying:
“I trusted that since the videos are private and published at a private event,
they would not be published. It feels bad that they have been published.”

COVID
risk

This,
however, is not the first time that Marin has faced controversy on account of
partying. In December 2021, Sanna Marin came under fire after she was seen
partying after a colleague of hers tested positive for the coronavirus.
Although, Marin did not violate any Finnish rules at the time, she apologised saying:
“I should have used better judgement and also checked the instructions I
received. I am sorry I did not understand this.”

Unbecoming?

Prior to
the controversy over Sanna Marin partying amid COVID, Marin faced trolling when
pictures of her featured on a local fashion magazine which showed the prime
minister wearing a blazer with no shirt underneath. She was trolled by many who
thought her attire was unbecoming of the position she occupied while there were
others who came out in support of her and called the trolls sexist. She had
women supporters who put up their own similarly-dressed pictures on social
media.