US EditionLasse Lehtonen named new Kela chief in surprise decision
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8 Articles
Lasse Lehtonen named new Kela chief in surprise decision
Lasse Lehtonen has been appointed director general of Finland’s Social Insurance Institution, Kela, in a move that surprised political observers and sidestepped earlier frontrunners for the role. Lehtonen, a physician and legal scholar, currently serves as director of diagnostics at the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS). He was confirmed to the post by Kela’s supervisory board on Tuesday with a 7–5 vote.
The Board of Kela previously proposed Heli Backman as Director General, but Lasse Lehtonen was elected to the position.
Kela's delegates met on Tuesday to elect a new director general at the end of a long and messy process.
According to Mira Nieminen, chairwoman of Kela's delegates and member of the Finns Party, the publicity surrounding the election of the director general has "unpleasant features".
The Coalition Party eventually appointed Lasse Lehtonen, a member of the Coalition Party, to head Kela. He was elected to the position by a 7-5 vote of the Coalition Party and the Finns Party. “Everyone probably has some kind of background somewhere, whether it is more or less public. For my part, I can say that I have no political interest in this appointment,” said Mira Nieminen, the chairwoman of the council and a member of the Finns Party.
SDP Vice Chairman Matias Mäkynen has direct words about the election of the Director General of Kela. The election of the Director General of Kela saw a surprise turn on Tuesday, when the leader of the Hus party from the National Coalition Party, Lasse Lehtonen, was elected to the position. Initially, the election was expected to be a race between the outgoing Minister of Labour, Arto Satonen (National Coalition Party) and the CEO of the Pension…
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