Opinions on the Migrant Crisis and the Political Establishment of Finland

A poll was recently conducted in Finland following police statistics stating that 1/5th of sexual assault suspects are migrants asking whether the sample believed that this number was a result of culture and religion. Specifically, the question was (as translated from Finnish) “The differing culture and religion of migrants is a primary cause of sexual crimes” and the survey asked for an answer in an agree/disagree form. The results are shown below with blue being agree and pink being disagree.


 Depending on how one chooses to interpret the data available, one can come to many, many different conclusions,
so I will be talking mostly about the perceptions of the populace. Finland has never been the best place for migrants, with many leaving due to weather, racism, and everything in between. This has only gotten worse with the migrant crisis, as Perussuomalaiset, the conservative nationalist party operating farther to the right than the mainstream Kokomuus, surged in popularity, leading to the moderate left and right wing parties having to form a coalition to stay in power in 2015. As can be observed from the graph, many believe that the increase in sexual assaults is a direct result of culture and religion, and as can be observed from other graphs in the article, a vast majority of Perussuomalaiset believe this. Public opinion on the topic of asylum seekers from the middle east has only continued to sour, and regardless of the statistics, this will negatively impact other migrants there. Finland is a majority white nation, and like many majority white nations, there is pushback and racism demonstrated by some sections of the populace on the matter of immigrants of a different skin color. These police statistics will likely bolster more of the populace to push against allowing migrants in and increase the amount of violence towards migrant communities, regardless of the country of origin. More racist sentiment will already cause problems in and of itself, but this also poses a unique political issue. Finland joined the European Union in 1995, mainly due to the fact that both mainstream left, right, and center parties wished to join and cooperate with it, and with the migrant crisis occurring all over Europe, Euroscepticism has established itself in political mainstream. This is a primary reason for the surge in the voter base and popularity of the Perussuomalaiset, they were among the very few in government who opposed the EU. Euroscepticism in Finland did indeed occur in other parties, but these parties were generally left wing and did not appeal to those wishing to disallow migrants from settling in Finland. The migrant crisis has not been kind to the political establishment in Europe, and with more and more statistics, skewed or not, backing up the opposition, the political situations of many countries will continue to change in rapid and uncertain ways.

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