Finland’s Sanna Marin set to become world’s youngest prime minister at 34

She will lead an alliance of five parties that are all headed by women.

Finland’s newly appointed 34-year-old Prime Minister Sanna Marin is set to become the world’s youngest leader in the position, BBC reported on Monday. The country’s Social Democratic Party chose Marin, who was earlier the country’s transport minister, after Antti Rinne stepped down from the post. She is likely to be sworn later this week.

The prime minister will lead a centre-left alliance of five parties that are all led by women. “We have a lot of work to do to rebuild trust,” Marin said after her party voted on the prime ministerial candidate on Sunday. “I have never thought about my age or gender, I think of the reasons I got into politics and those things for which we have won the trust of the electorate.”

Marin will become the third-ever female prime minister in the country, and the youngest sitting prime minister in the world. Ukrainian premier Oleksiy Honcharuk is 35 years old while New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is 39.

Following the elections in the country in April, the Social Democrats had emerged as the largest party and therefore can appoint one of their leaders to the post of prime minister. Marin’s elevation came after a party in the coalition said it had lost confidence in Rinne after the way he handled the ongoing postal strikes in the country, according to The Guardian.

The newly appointed prime minister will take over charge amid a three-day strike that may stop production at a few of the country’s largest firms from Monday. The Confederation of Finnish Industries estimated that companies will lose out on €500 million collectively due to the protests, Reuters reported.

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