A Finnish politician dies in Parliament in Helsinki

A politician in Finland died in the main building of the country’s parliament in the capital, Helsinki.

Eemeli Peltonen, 30, who was a deputy for the social democratic party, would have committed suicide in the building and was found on Tuesday morning, local media reported.

His sudden death shocked Finland, with politicians from all sides expressing their sadness.

“He was a much appreciated member of our community and we will miss it deeply. A young life ended far too early,” said Tytti Tuppurainen, president of the social democratic parliamentary group, in a statement.

Although the Parliament is in summer recess, all official political work has been suspended by Prime Minister Petteri ORPO for the rest of the day.

ORPO held a minute of silence in honor of Peltonen who, he said, had been much appreciated by the colleagues, reports the public broadcaster Yle.

This was shared by the parliamentary speaker, Jussi Halla-Aho, who wrote on X that Peltonen had been a “well appreciated colleague who was respected through the lines of the parties”.

Police were called to Eduskuntatalo – the parliamentary building – at 11:06 (08:06 GMT) on Tuesday. They said that no unfair game was suspected.

The death of Peltonen was confirmed about three hours later in a short parliamentary declaration, which said that the community shared “the sorrow of his relatives”.

Peltonen, who represented the southern region of Uusimaa, was in his first mandate as a deputy, having been elected in 2023.

His political ambitions began early – Peltonen was elected municipal councilor for the city of Jarvenpaa at only 18 years old.

At the age of 22, he was elected president of the municipal council – the youngest to hold the title, the media reported at the time.

At the end of June, Peltonen posted on his social media accounts that he had “been far from a lot of parliamentary work in recent weeks” because he had “a kidney problem” which led to an infection.

In the post, he explained that he was treated with “an intravenous antibiotic healing in Meilahti (a suburb of Helsinki), which takes his time”.

“I am already returned from the hospital, but due to the situation, I am on summer sick leave and I am now fully focused on the recovery of the disease,” he wrote.

If you are assigned by this article, you can access the support and information to BBC Action Line