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Soini not to run for Euro Parliament

Finns Party Chairman Timo Soini announced Saturday that he will not be running in the European Parliamentary elections next year.

Timo Soini
Image: Yle

Soini made the announcement in Joensuu where the Finns Party is holding its annual congress this weekend. Soini said it was a difficult decision.

"I could have run, I would have been allowed to run, but I decided not to. I decided to stay in Finland," he said.

Soini stressed that the European Parliamentary elections are important for his party, and every candidate should be able to pick up at least 10,000 votes.

He also announced that he did not plan to relinquish his party's chairmanship.

"There are two reasons for this: I can't afford to and I do not want to," Timo Soini stated.

Soini was reelected to the Finns Party chair 627-25 in a vote in which he was opposed by Kristiina Ilmarinen, a member from Helsinki.

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