Essaya, Sari

Born February 21, 1967 in Haukivuori . Her father is Moroccan , her mother is Finnish .

In 1986 she graduated from school in Lapinlahti ^[3] . Graduated from the ,Master of Economics (1995) ^[3] .

Member of the Pentecostal Church . In August 2019, she began treatment in connection with the detection of breast cancer ^[4] .

Sports career

She has performed in international race walking competitions, representing Finland.

At the 1991 World Cup in Tokyo, won a bronze medal at a distance of 10 km; at the next world championship in 1993 in Stuttgart, she won the competition at this distance. The following year, at the European Championships , which took place in Helsinki , Essaya also won a gold medal.

At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​she was one of the favorites at a distance of 10 km , but she took 4th place, losing to two Chinese women and Elena Nikolaeva from the United Team. In 1996, she performed at the Olympic Games in Atlanta , taking 16th place at a distance of 10 km, after which she completed her sports career ^[5] .

According to the results of voting among sports journalists in 1993 and 1994, Essaya was recognized as the athlete of the year in Finland .

Political career

Sari Essaya has been a member of the Finnish Parliament since 2003, but could not win the 2007 elections. In 2009, she was elected to the European Parliament . In the spring of 2015, she was elected to the Finnish Parliament for the second time ^[3] .

In October 2011, Sari Essaya, after much persuasion, agreed to become the presidential candidate of Finland in the 2012 election from the Christian Democrats ^{[6] [7]} . On November 26, 2011, her candidacy was approved at a party congress ^[8] . On January 22, 2012, in the first round of the presidential election, Essaya won 2.5% of the vote, taking the last place out of eight candidates.

At the party congress on August 28, 2015 in Savonlinna , Essaya was unanimously elected chairman of the Christian Democrats ^[9] . In her keynote address at the congress, Essaya stated that Christian Democrats needed to regain the confidence of voters by pursuing a multilateral and constructive policy, not limited to moral and ethical issues ^[10] .

On August 4, 2016, at the session of the International Olympic Committee in Rio de Janeiro, Essaya was elected an active member of this organization ^[11] .

At a congress of Christian Democrats, membership voting showed that the party as a candidate for the presidential election in 2018 supported its chairman, but the position of Sari Essaya itself led the party to decide to support incumbent President Sauli Niinistö , who was nominated for a second term. Essaya substantiated her position by supporting Niinistö’s policies on foreign policy and security ^[12] .

In August 2019, at the next party congress, Essaya was again elected chairman of the Christian Democrats ^[13] .

Husband (since 1991) - Robert Knapp employee of social diaconia ^[3] .

Children: Noora (born 1998) Ney (born 2001) ^[3] .

Working in the European Parliament, she lived with her family in Brussels . According to the data for 2015, she lived in Lapinlahti ^[3] .

•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sari Essaya
• Official page of Sari Essaya (Fin.)
• The official page of Sari Essaya on the website of the Parliament of Finland (inaccessible link) (Fin.)
• Sari Essaya page on the IAAF website