Social Democratic Party MP Joona Räsänen has revealed in a social media post that he received a fine last month for drink driving.
"I was stopped at a checkpoint in Espoo on Ring Road 1. The precision breathalyzer result was 0.3 mg/l (0.68 per mille), when the limit is 0.22 mg/l (0.5 per mille)," Räsänen wrote in a post on Facebook, adding that he is "extremely ashamed and sorry".
He received 40 income-linked day-fines for the offence, which amounts to some 2,300 euros.
"The act was completely wrong. I immediately accepted the punishment I received," Räsänen wrote.
As a result of the incident, Räsänen announced that he will not seek re-election to the SDP party board or as chair of the party's Uusimaa district.
He also currently serves as chair of the Lohja city board.
Party leadership ready to move on
SDP leader Antti Lindtman said Räsänen had made an error of judgement, adding that "this cannot happen again" but suggested that the party leadership was looking to move on.
"He has admitted this mistake, apologised, said he will learn from it," Lindtman said.
Tytti Tuppurainen, chair of the SDP's parliamentary group, told reporters that she had spoken with Räsänen about the matter.
"He will receive consequences for this under Finnish criminal law just like anyone else who is guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol," Tuppurainen said.
Räsänen: "No alcohol problem"
Räsänen told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that he consumed alcohol during an evening out with his friend — but made a "serious error in judgement" when deciding to drive.
As he lives in Lohja, Räsänen has been commuting between the town and Helsinki for about 15 years — a distance of about 60km — but denied similar incidents had ever previously occurred.
"There have certainly been those situations when, for example, I have left a restaurant after one glass. There have certainly been these incidents over the past 20 years, but nothing like this has happened before," he said.
He added that he has utilised parliament's occupational health services to assess whether he has a broader problem with alcohol use.
"Doctors have not diagnosed anything of this nature for me, and therefore I dare to say that this is an extremely unfortunate individual mistake, and I have promised that it will not happen again," he said.
Räsänen added that he plans to continue in his role as a Member of Parliament and, at least for now, he also intends to stand for re-election at next year's parliamentary vote.
"Ultimately, voters will judge how they regard my actions. But I have said quite directly that in all those organisations where I operate, I will go through this very seriously and straightforwardly. Then we'll see what conclusions are reached," he said.
