Toimi Olavi Kankaanniemi (born 26 February 1950) is a Finnish politician, born in

Tyrvää Tyrvää (; ) was a municipality in the Satakunta region, Turku and Pori Province, Finland. It was established in 1439 when the Tyrvää parish was separated from the parish of Karkku. In 1915, the market town of Vammala was separated from Tyrvä ...

. Kankaanniemi was the Chairman of the Finnish

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

from 1989 to 1995. In

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, he was a candidate for

President of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland (; ) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024 Finnish presidential election, 2024. The presi ...

, finishing ninth of eleven candidates. He served as a Member of 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 P ...

from 1987 to 2011. Kankaanniemi was also a minister in the cabinet of

Esko Aho Esko Tapani Aho (born 20 May 1954) is a Finnish politician who was prime minister of Finland from 1991 to 1995. Early life and career Aho was born in Veteli, Finland. Prior to attending university, he began a career in politics. From 1974 to ...

from 1991 to 1994, responsible for international development as well as alcohol issues. He resigned from the cabinet in 1994, citing his opposition to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, which Finland was about to join. After retiring from the Parliament Kankaanniemi resigned his membership in the Christian Democrats and, in 2012, joined the

Finns Party The Finns Party ( , PS; , Sannf), formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The party achieved its electoral breakthro ...

(True Finns) as a candidate in that year's municipal election. He became a member of the Finns Party the following year. He was a candidate in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

, but was not elected. In the 2015 parliamentary election Kankaanniemi returned to the parliament as a Finns Party MP. After admitting to sending sexually suggestive messages over Facebook to several women, Kankaanniemi was removed from the Finns Party's government negotiation team.HS: Finns MP Kankaanniemi kicked out of coalition talks
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