Sari Miriam Essayah (born 21 February 1967) is a Finnish retired racewalker and a politician, former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Member of Parliament since 2015. She is the president of the Finnish Christian Democrats party. She has been serving as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry since 2023.
During her sports career, Essayah competed mainly in 5 and 10 kilometres. In the latter, she won the World Championship in 1993 and the European Championship in 1994. She set seven national records, all of which are still standing.
In 2016, Essayah became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and she has been a member of the Ethics Committee of the Finnish Athletics Association since 2014.
Education Her father is from Morocco.
Essayah holds an M.Sc (Econ) in business administration and accounting from the University of Vaasa.
Political career After retiring from sports Essayah entered politics and represented the Christian Democrats in the Finnish parliament between 2003 and 2007 but failed to get reelected in the election of 2007. She served as the Christian Democrats' party secretary from 2007 to 2009. Essayah was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 but failed to be reelected in 2014 despite her 61 000 votes. This left the Finnish Christian Democrats without MEPs in the 2014 election.Candidates, Yle site for EU elections 2014. May 26, 2014. In November 2011 she undertook godparenthood for Mikola Dziadok, Belarusian activist and political prisoner.
Essayah was candidate in the 2012 Finnish presidential election. She came last with 2.47 percent of the votes.
In the 2015 parliamentary elections, Essayah was elected to represent a newly formed constituency of Savonia and Karelia with over 11 000 votes. Yle site for Parliamentary elections 2015. April 24, 2015. She was later chosen to be the vice speaker of the Christian Democrats' Parliamentary group. In August, she was chosen as the new chair of her party after her predecessor, Päivi Räsänen, retired from the position after over ten years. Sari Essayah was re-elected in Finnish parliament in the 2019 elections and re-elected for a third term as the party chair in a party congress in August.
In June 2023, she was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in the Orpo Cabinet. On 27 August 2023, Essayah was chosen as the presidential candidate of Christian Democrats in the 2024 Finnish presidential election. She received 1.48% of the total votes.
Other activities Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), Member of the Advisory Council (since 2019)Advisory Council Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA).
Achievements Representing 1987World Championships Rome, Italy 19th10 km47:30 1989UniversiadeDuisburg, West Germany 3rd5 km21:341990European ChampionshipsSplit, Yugoslavia5th10 km45:101991World Race Walking Cup San Jose, United States16th10 km46:20UniversiadeSheffield, England 1st10 km44:04World Championships Tokyo, Japan 3rd10 km43:13 1992Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain4th10 km45:081993World Race Walking Cup Monterrey, Mexico 2nd10 km45:18World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 1st10 km42:591994European Championships Helsinki, Finland 1st10 km42:371995World Race Walking Cup Beijing, China12th10 km44:21World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden4th10 km42:20 1996Olympic Games Atlanta, United States16th10 km45:02
References
External links
Sari Essayah website