Olavi Mäenpää
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Olavi Mäenpää (born 1951) is a Finnish politician and chairman of Suomen Kansan Sinivalkoiset, a far-right political party. He has been a member of the city council of Turku, his home city, since 1992. He works as a private detective and an animal welfare supervisor.
In the municipal election of 2004, Mäenpää received a total of 2,208 votes, more than any other candidate in Turku. It has been suggested that a large proportion of these votes were given as a protest against the inflated bureaucracy in the city and the domination of municipal government by the National Coalition Party and the Social Democrats. Mäenpää has also appeared as a candidate in elections to the Finnish parliament (Eduskunta) and the European Parliament, but has not been successful.
Mäenpää is a very controversial politician and personality - he has attracted a lot of attention with aggressive statements against refugees, immigrants, and fellow politicians and civil servants. In 2007 he, for example, commented that "Immigrants should be placed on an island in the Baltic Sea". He has received two criminal convictions for agitation against an ethnic group, a crime according to Finnish law. In the city council, he is known for excessively long speeches and his numerous formal complaints against decisions taken by the council.
