Daily Times

Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who lost a general election at the weekend, said Wednesday that she would step down as Social Democratic Party leader and dismissed notions of any international postings. “I have come to the conclusion that I will not seek to continue as SDP leader at the forthcoming party conference in September,” Marin told reporters in Helsinki. The 37-year-old said she would continue as a lawmaker, despite speculation that she could be in the running for a top job at an international agency.

“I have not been offered any international posts. I will continue my work as a member of parliament,” Marin said. She will submit her government’s resignation on Thursday, acknowledging that her term as prime minister had taken a toll. “My own endurance has been tested at times during these years,” she said. Hoping to live “a little calmer life,” she also said she would not seek the presidency when the current head of state Sauli Niinisto’s second and final term ends next year.

But Marin intends to lead the SDP’s negotiations with the National Coalition Party, which won Sunday’s legislative election in a close race, in the coming talks on forming a new government. The biggest party in parliament traditionally gets the first chance to form a government, which means conservative leader Petteri Orpo will have to decide whether to build a coalition with the SDP or the far-right Finns Party, which came in second. But Marin said she did not expect to be a cabinet member in the next government even if it includes her Social Democrats.