The son of a single father wants to be the next chairman of SDP and after Orpo, prime minister

In Iltalehti's May Day interview, SDP's Antti Lindtman tells how his childhood, raised by a single father, has affected him and reflects on how he can rise from Sanna Marin's shadow to become SDP's next prime minister. Watch Antti Lindtman's Danunar Vappu joke on IL-TV. kreeta.karvala@iltalehti.fi Today at 11:20

• Antti Lindtman wants to be the next chairman and prime minister of SDP after Orpo.
• Lindtman denies the claim that SDP was left out of the government because the party is already aiming to win the next parliamentary elections.
• In the interview, Lindtman also talks about his childhood, raised by a single father, and what he plans to do to reform SDP.

MP Antti Lindtman, 40, who wants to become the chairman of the SDP, has worked in the Danube and is also familiar with the organizations of the labor movement. ATTE KAJOVA

A small electric bemari stops on the bank of the Keravanjoki river. A big man gets out of the car with cardboard coffee mugs.

SDP parliamentary group chairman Antti Lindtman apologizes when the Vernissa cafe, which was arranged as the interview location, is closed due to renovations. That's why he brought the coffee to the riverbank himself.

– I chose this place because of its beauty and because one of the most important achievements of my political career can be seen here, Lindtman says.

Lindtman, who has been the chairman of the Vantaa city council since 2009, presents a free-flowing rapid from which the more than a hundred-year-old factory dam that prevented migratory fish from entering the Keravanjoki has been removed. says with satisfaction.

The dam would not have been wanted in Vantaa, because it was essentially connected to the city's industrial history, but after years of straining, the water now flows freely in the basin.

Although the riverside is idyllic, the freezing wind of spring forces us indoors.

Lindtman directs us to another famous destination in Vantaa, the hotel in Vantaa, called the “Swedish ship simulator”.

On the way, Lindtman mentions that anyone who gets out of the hotel dances without a companion will be awarded a Vantaa medal.

– Not a single medal has been awarded during my political career, Lindtman laughs.

Light and fire

Antti Lindtman is described as a social and cooperative colleague who knows how to play political games. ATTE KAJOVA

Social and cooperative. A man with light and fire in his heart. This is how Lindtman, who aims to become the next chairman of the SDP, describes himself.

He also has a Danube background, even though the 40-year-old Lindtman got involved in politics at a young age.

– I have also washed the windows of this hotel, been a stonemason and a concrete truck driver, Lindtman enumerates.

However, he found a profession in politics, whose next stage Lindtman hopes will be the presidency of the SDP and, after this election period, a possible prime ministership.

The SDP will choose a new chairman of the party in September, when the current chairman, Prime Minister Sanna Marin, said immediately after the election that he would leave the position.

Lindtman is considered the early favorite for the competition, where Tytti Tuppurainen and Krista Kiuru may be the opposite candidates. Neither of them has yet confirmed their candidacy.

Lindtman does not seem to be intimidated by the presidential race, even though Kiuru, who served as the Minister of Corona and Social Security, in particular, might have wider support among the party's membership and thus also in the member vote.< /p>

Kiuru is also a skilled gambler. It was seen four years ago, when Kiuru won votes for Marin in the SDP party council vote, as a result of which Marin became Finland's prime minister by a few votes over Lindtman, when Antti Rinne had to leave the party.

– If there is an advisory member vote, I am convinced that the result will be respected in the party. I myself have positioned myself in a possible membership vote so that the word of the membership carries the most weight, Lindtman assures.

Why do you want more power?

– Because it gives you the opportunity to influence things you think are right, Lindtman answers.

Raised by his father

Lindtman chose a politically important place on the banks of the Keravajoki as the filming location. ATTE KAJOVA

Antti Lindtman's desire to influence things started at a young age. He experienced his first success in social influence at the age of 14 in the principal's office, where he managed to talk about free lunches for the class art trip.

Demarius has come to Anti as a blood inheritance, because his father was a Demarian activist in Vantaa.

– Father did try to dissuade me from going into politics at such a young age. He was certainly trying to protect, Lindtman says.

Antti's childhood was exceptional in that he was raised by a single father.

– It was not quite ordinary , then in the 1980s, that the father was a single parent.

– Yes, the aunties at the daycare then looked a little more closely to see if Antti had clean clothes and everything else was in order.

– Our Nordic welfare society is pretty great, where the whole village cares.

Lindtman says he is very grateful to his father.

– It was certainly not an easy task for Faija, when he too had his own work and I had many hobbies; football, basketball, floorball and ice hockey.

– In retrospect, I think that my father made a really big sacrifice, when he clearly always put me first and was often there on the sidelines cheering me on.

Lindtman says that his childhood years had the greatest influence on what he became.

– My father raised me to be a social and considerate young man, says Lindtman.

Long game

Lindtman is grateful to his father, who raised him alone. ATTE KAJOVA

Lindtman's “political father” is currently considered to be Eero Heinäluomaa, an influential MEP.

– This record has been around for so long that it's already starting to rustle a bit, says Lindtman, feeling fed up.

He says he has learned something from every chairman of the SDP.

– The most important lesson from all of them is that society is built one piece at a time and in politics you should always look a little further. To Orpo's government, because after four years SDP would get a sure election victory after the right-wing government's cuts and Lindtman would become prime minister. For this reason, SDP's marginal conditions were also considered tough in the government negotiations.

MP Erkki Tuomioja, who asked in his Facebook post, whether it would have been beneficial for SDP to be more prepared for government negotiations?

Lindtman denies the claims and blames the coalition.

– I dispute that assessment. This was not our choice, but the choice of the coalition. We were ready to bear the responsibility according to our marginal conditions, which include not cutting social security, education and social security.

According to Lindtman, the coalition did not want to look at the blue-and-red card in government recognition.

He also believes that the right-wing parties meeting at Säätytalo on Tuesday will eventually find an agreement.

– We now position ourselves so that the opposition is in front of us and thereby offer our own alternative.

The Orpo government, which is aiming for six billion adjustments, offers the left-wing opposition Guarantee a reason to criticize.

– I personally don't go painting devils on the walls in advance. The approach to opposition politics depends above all on the decisions the government makes.

In the shadow of Marin

Lindtman joined the Vantaa city council already in 2004, and in 2009 he became the chairman of the council, a position he continues to hold still. ATTE KAJOVA

As chairman of SDP and possible prime minister of the next election term, Lindtman will be unhelpfully overshadowed by Marin, who has risen to international super popularity.

Antti would not be the world's youngest sitting and “dancing” prime minister, as Sanna was.

– You shouldn't compare me to Sanna, every leader has to build on his own strengths, and if I'm elected, I'm going to do that too.

Lindtman says he learned a lot from Marin .

– Among other things, how important it is to be able to see the essential things at the turning points of history. Marin was an absolutely excellent crisis leader for Finland, Lindtman enthuses.

– I have learned from following Sanna closely that she is exceptionally good at focusing on the most important issues for the nation.

How do you feel about shaking up the institutions that Marin wanted to do during his own term as prime minister?

– Every institution has to live with the times. Sometimes it may require a gentle or medium-gentle shake, Lindtman laughs.

What do you consider your own strengths?

– Ability for cooperation and the coordination of different views both in my own party and with other parties.

It is worth asking the opinion of the people at home about weaknesses. Lindtman says that his wife Kaija thinks that remembering everyday things and completing household chores would still be difficult.

– When the trash bag needs to be taken out, it's not enough to grab it and leave it on the stairs to wait for the next one.

– Most of the time I defend myself by saying that the matter is in the process, Lindtman laughs and continues that his wife however, full support for his political aspirations.

– It will inevitably be busy and difficult years if I am chairman or we are in the government, says Lindtman.

Labor Day

Lindtman went to the May Day march in advance to accompany his 5-year-old daughter Sofia to the kindergarten in Vantaa.

On May Day, Lindtman will go to Tampere and Hämeenlinna, where he will give speeches.

< p class="paragraph">Vappu is a traditional holiday for working people, but in recent years it has seemed to critics that SDP is pushing more for the welfare recipients than for those who pay them.

– Work has always been important to me. I wanted to start earning right after high school, because for me it was a sign of independence and self-sufficiency.

According to Lindtman, work also has a deeper meaning, that is, that a person feels that he is useful to others.

– All jobs, from washing windows or driving a concrete truck to politics, are rewarding.

– However, in politics you often only see the results after a little longer than, for example, washing windows.

What do you think about the visions of the Democrats to move to a four-day work week?

– In this time, we need more people to work and more working hours to survive about the challenges ahead when the population is aging and the workforce is shrinking.

– However, this (four-day work week) discussion is important from the point of view of what society and working life will look like in the longer term, says Lindtman.

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The possible next chairman of the SDP, despite his wife's BMW car, does not recognize himself as a Bemaridemar or a champagne socialist.

– Just Demari is enough.

Lindtman is still considered less to the left than Marinia.

– I personally hope that SDP would have a high ceiling and wide walls.

Lindtman says that in 2020- the Nordic social democrat of the 20th century, which means that in addition to work, welfare, services and solidarity, solutions can also be found to the problems of our time.

– I am running for party chairman because Finland and the SDP: n must still be at the forefront of sustainable development, where environmental goals, progress and internationality are adhered to.

– When asked if I want to take SDP to the right or to the left, my answer is that I want to take the party into the future, Lindtman concludes.