Finnish Politicians Lack Body Language, says Swede

“How can Finns be analysed? They have turned lack of expression into an art form”, says Swedish body language expert Henrik Fexeus after watching a video showing Finnish party leaders in television interviews during an election campaign.
     Fexeus does not understand Finnish, nor is he familiar with Finnish politics. Still, his observations based on body language alone seem surprisingly accurate. The unemotional Matti Vanhanen (Centre), the energetic Jyrki Katainen (National Coalition Party), and the Social Democratic leader Jutta Urpilainen, who flirts with her audience, and Timo Soini (True Finns), who likes to make carefully prepared comments to the audience, are familiar characterisations to Finns.
     Fexeus feels that Swedish politicians express contempt and disagreement more openly.
     “These people are all friends with each other.”
     That’s nice to know. It seems that Finnish politicians are not as quarrelsome as we had thought.