The openly racist and fascist Blue-Black Movement has returned to Finland's political party register.
The Justice Ministry's electoral administration director, Arto Jääskeläinen, confirmed to Yle that the movement officially returned to the list of political parties on Wednesday, after Helsingin Sanomat reported the news.
Jääskeläinen previously told Yle that the group had gathered the required 5,000 supporter cards needed to be registered, and that there was no legal obstacle in re-registering it as a party.
The group first registered as a political party in 2022, but this was later deemed a "mistake" by the Justice Ministry and an application was subsequently filed by the ministry with the Supreme Administrative Court to remove the Blue-Black Movement from the register.
This request was granted by the court in 2024, as it ruled the party's programme was incompatible with constitutional and human rights law.
However, the justice ministry's Jääskeläinen told Yle earlier this month that the group's rules and programme had been reviewed once again, and were "found to be acceptable".
The Blue-and-Black Movement was founded by a group of disgruntled former members of the Finns Party, who held strong ethnonationalist views. Their use of the blue and black colours is a homage to the Lapua Movement, a radical nationalist and fascist group that was active in Finland between 1929 and 1932.
The group held an event and march in Tampere on 1 May, during which participants dressed in black were seen carrying Finnish flags and a banner that read "May Day is White".
