Sari Miriam Essayah (born 21 February 1967 in Haukivuori) is a Finnish retired racewalker and a politician, former

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...

(MEP) and Member of Parliament since 2015. She is the president of the Finnish Christian Democrats party. Her father is from

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

. During her sports career, Essayah competed mainly in 5 000 and 10 000 metres. In the latter, she won the World Championship in 1993 and the European Championship in 1994. She made seven national records, all of which are still standing. In 2016, Essayah became a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

(IOC), and she has been a member of the Ethics Committee, Finnish Athletics Association since 2014.

Education

Essayah holds an M.Sc (Econ) in business administration and accounting from the

University of Vaasa The University of Vaasa ( fi, Vaasan yliopisto, sv, Vasa universitet) is a multidisciplinary, business-oriented university in Vaasa, Finland. The campus of the university is situated by the Gulf of Bothnia adjacent to downtown Vaasa. The univ ...

Political career

After retiring from sports Essayah entered politics and represented the Christian Democrats in the

Finnish parliament The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

between 2003–2007 but failed to get reelected in the election of 2007. She served as the Christian Democrats' party secretary from 2007 to 2009. Essayah was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

in 2009 but failed to be reelected in 2014 despite her 61 000 votes. This left the Finnish Christian Democrats without MEPs in the 2014 election. In November 2011 she undertook godparenthood for Mikola Dziadok, Belarusian activist and

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their politics, political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, al ...

. Essayah was candidate in the

2012 Finnish presidential election Presidential elections were held in Finland in January and February 2012. The first round took place on 22 January 2012 with advance voting between 11 and 17 January. Since no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on ...

. She came last with 2.47 percent of the votes. In the 2015 parliamentary elections, Essayah was elected to represent a newly formed constituency of Savonia and Karelia with over 11 000 votes. She was later chosen to be the vice speaker of the Christian Democrats' Parliamentary group. In August, she was chosen as the new chair of her party after her predecessor, Päivi Räsänen, retired from the position after over ten years. Sari Essayah was re-elected in Finnish parliament in the

2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in coun ...

and re-elected for a third term as the party chair in a party congress in August.

Other activities

Finnish Institute of International Affairs The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA, fi, Ulkopoliittinen instituutti, sv, Utrikespolitiska institutet, UPI) is an independent research institute that produces topical information and research on international relations and the ...

(FIIA), Member of the Advisory Council (since 2019)Advisory Council

(FIIA).

Achievements

References

External links

Sari Essayah website
* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Essayah, Sari 1967 births Living people People from Mikkeli Finnish Pentecostals Finnish evangelists Finnish people of Moroccan descent Leaders of political parties in Finland Christian Democrats (Finland) politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (2003–07) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–19) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–23) Christian Democrats (Finland) MEPs MEPs for Finland 2009–2014 21st-century women MEPs for Finland Candidates for President of Finland Finnish sportsperson-politicians Finnish female racewalkers Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Finland World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists International Olympic Committee members Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Women members of the Parliament of Finland Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Universiade gold medalists for Finland Universiade bronze medalists for Finland World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 1989 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games