Sanna Marin took the test voluntarily last week after leaked videos of her dancing at a party inspired outrage
© AFP / Roni Rekomaa
Finnish PM Sanna Marin’s drug test, undertaken at her own expense after leaked video of her partying raised eyebrows across the country, has come back clean, her office has announced.
The press release, posted on Monday by the Government Communications Department, did not reveal what drugs the test was meant to detect, only that it was “comprehensive.” Concerned Finns were referred to Marin’s office for more details.
Marin held a press conference on Friday to explain that while she had been drinking lightly during the party where the videos were shot, she hadn’t taken any drugs, and she was “always” in suitable condition to “lead the country.”
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“Even in my teenage years, I haven’t used any kind of drugs,” the 36-year-old prime minister continued, insisting “I took the tests just to be sure [because of the suspicion].”
She took a similar line on Thursday, explaining that the party, while “wild,” took place at a private home during her own leisure time – though she was “disappointed” it had become public, slamming the leaker for violating her trust.
I have danced, sung, celebrated, done legal things.
MP Mikko Karna, from Marin’s coalition partner the Centre Party, was not so forgiving, demanding on Thursday that she take a drug test while noting that people in the background of the videos were shouting about cocaine. She pleaded ignorance, claiming she hadn’t seen anyone using drugs and pointing out that she “couldn’t know if someone has used something that I haven’t seen myself.”
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Marin wasn’t the only high-profile Finn cutting loose in the clips. MP Ilmari Nurminen, media anchor Tinni Wikstrom, and singer Alma were spotted, while another video shows the married prime minister dancing “intimately” with singer-songwriter Olavi Uusivirta.
The Social Democrat became the youngest prime minister ever elected in Finland in December 2019. While Germany’s Bild magazine has deemed her the “coolest PM ever” for finding time to “celebrate” despite the “warlike activity of her neighbor Russia,” Marin ended decades of Finnish military neutrality by applying to join NATO alongside Sweden in the weeks following the launch of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine.
