Member of Parliament Ano Turtiainen, who was ejected from the Finns Party earlier this year, has started the process of collecting the signatures needed to launch a new political party, which he intends to call Valta Kuuluu Kansalle (VKK), roughly translated as "Power Belongs to the People."
Turtiainen was expelled after posting racist tweets in June 2020 mocking George Floyd, an African-American killed by US police in late May 2020.
According to a VKK press release, the party programme has been approved by the Ministry of Justice, thus kickstarting the process of collecting supporter signatures from Wednesday 11 August.
VKK will need the support of at least 5,000 people in order to become a recognised political party, with signatures collected via the party registration service puoluerekisteri.fi.
The party has stated that one of ts goals is to strengthen direct democracy, for example in the form of referendums.
"Finland must be governed according to the will of the majority of its citizens. The leaders of the people must serve the people and not the other way around," the VKK website reads.
The group also insisted that Finland must remain non-partisan in military matters as highlighted by the slogan "Independent and impartial Finland."
Other founding members of the VKK include Ilkka Tiainen, who sought to chair the Centre Party last year, former Finns Party member Jarno Vähäkainu, and citizen activist Suvi Ahonen.
