The youth group of Finland’s largest right-wing party has come under fire after posting a tweet which warned that Finland would soon be overrun by non-whites if it votes the wrong way in upcoming European elections.

Finns Party Youth, the junior wing of the Finns Party, tweeted a screenshot from a European Parliament ad which depicted two dark-skinned parents and their child.

“Vote Finns so that Finland’s future will not look like this,” Finnish Youth captioned the image.

The youth group’s chairman, Asseri Kinnunen, is running for the Finns Party in the European Parliament election. Kinnunen stood by the tweet in an interview with Finnish media, insisting that it was meant to spark debate over whether “it is the EU or Finland’s own decision-makers who decide over Finland’s future.”

His argument was not well-received among Finland’s more liberal political figures. Lawyer and Social Democrat politician Sakari Timonen denounced the tweet as “openly racist” and called for the government to halt grants to the youth group.

Li Andersson, the leader of the Left Alliance, also claimed that organization’s “racism” was “crystal clear.”

The incendiary tweet also spawned a number of memes.

äänestäkää ketä tahansa muuta paitsi perussuomalaisia kiitos pic.twitter.com/1R2cn9FRD5 — Jenna (@Jennamikaelaaaa) May 19, 2019

Persuilta taitaisi loppua kannattajat pic.twitter.com/HV9v1hzfe6 — Jukka Paanala (@JukkaPaanala) May 22, 2019

Finns scored modest gains in recent elections and is currently part of the ruling center-right coalition government. The right-wing party currently controls two of Finland’s thirteen seats in European Parliament.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!