Maarit Feldt-Ranta 1968 - 2019
27 November 2019
The Socialist International pays tribute to Maarit Feldt-Ranta, Vice-Chair and former Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, who passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer.
In 2005 Maarit Feldt-Ranta became SDP Secretary General, a post she held for three years. She was first elected to the Parliament of Finland in 2007 representing Uusimaa, the district she grew up in. She was genuinely committed to social democracy and her political work, and among other responsibilities she was a member of the SDP Foreign and Security Policy Task Force.
In 2017 Feldt-Ranta was elected a Vice-Chair of the SDP and in June 2017 she announced that she would run for the candidacy of the SDP in the 2018 presidential elections.
In the party primary, she ran alongside Tuula Haatainen and Sirpa Paatero, finishing second gaining 42.3% of the votes behind Tuula Haatainen's 48.6 %.
The SI extends its deepest sympathy to her family, friends and members of the SDP at this difficult time; she will be warmly remembered by all who knew her.
