Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin has been cleared of misconduct after a video surfaced of her partying with friends over the summer.
The 36-year-old was subject to a misconduct investigation which concluded on Friday that there was "no reason to suspect the prime minister of illegal conduct in the minister's official position or neglect of duty".
Ms Marin had said she was "disappointed" the footage had been shared on social media, where supporters commended her for having fun alongside a stressful job while critics said she should have focused her efforts on a number of more pressing issues.
"I spent the evening with friends. Partied, pretty wild, yes. Danced and sang,” Ms Marin said after the occurrence in August which saw scores of Finnish women post their own videos of nights out in apparent solidarity.
Tuomas Poysti, the justice chancellor, announced the verdict following the prime minister taking it upon herself to take a drug test, which came back negative, after the video appeared to contain someone in the background shouting a reference to cocaine.
Ms Marin said: “Amid these dark times, I too miss joy, light and fun. And that involves certain types of photos that I would not like to see and I know you would not want to see.
“It’s private, it’s joyful, it’s life. But I have not missed a single day of work, a single assignment and I never will. All of that is irrelevant when we need to build the country stronger.”
In a separate incident, Ms Marin apologised after well-known female influencers were pictured kissing topless at her official residence in Helsinki. They had covered their breasts with Finnish flags in an act the PM said was not appropriate.
She took office as one of the world’s youngest heads of state in 2019 and, as of November 2022, there are only three leaders who are younger than her, globally.
