Mari Rantanen

After appointment, Rantanen's past remarks came under scrutiny, as she had continuously written about the Great Replacement, even using the hashtag #väestönvaihto (Finnish for the Great Replacement) repeatedly on Twitter. Finnish Security Intelligence Service considers that the Great Replacement is one of the noteworthy ideological motivations of far-right terrorism and notes that it has been highlighted in several far-right terrorist attacks.[3]

Ahead of the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, Rantanen wrote a candidate brief on her website in which she remarked on immigration: "we must not be so blue-eyed (a Finnish term for "naive") that soon we will not be blue-eyed (a feature often associated with white people)".[4]

In an interview with Iltalehti Rantanen was asked what she meant by no longer being blue-eyed, and she replied: "I mean exactly what it says." She denied referring to racial theories, and when asked if she believed in the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, replied: "I believe in statistics." When asked what kind of statistics, Rantanen answered "demographics," instructed the interviewer to look at demographic changes in Sweden, and suggested trying to avoid such changes in Finland. Rantanen then ended the interview.[4]

In 2016, Rantanen wrote on social media, that the boats of asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean Sea should be stopped or otherwise "there will be a war". She also liked a comment, which states that refugees should be left to drown and another that calls refugees parasites.[5]