Tanja Tellervo Karpela is a Finnish Member of Parliament and a former Finnish Minister of Culture, a position she held from 2003 to 2007.

Overview

A former beauty queen

Beauty contest

A beauty pageant or beauty contest, is a competition that mainly focuses on the physical beauty of its contestants, although such contests often incorporate personality, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria...

 who held the title of Miss Finland

Miss Finland

-External links:*...

 and represented her country in the Miss Universe

Miss Universe

Miss Universe is an annual international beauty contest that is run by the Miss Universe Organization. The pageant is the most publicized beauty contest in the world with 600 million viewers....

 pageant in 1991, Karpela was elected to parliament

Parliament of Finland

The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...

 from the Electoral District of Uusimaa

Uusimaa

Uusimaa, or Nyland in Swedish, is a region in Finland. It borders the regions Finland Proper, Tavastia Proper, Päijänne Tavastia and Kymenlaakso...

 in 1999, representing the Centre Party. Prior to her election, she also became famous for her work as a underwear and lingerie model. She was appointed Minister of Culture in Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Finland

The Prime Minister is the Head of Government of Finland. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, who is the Head of State. The current Prime Minister is Jyrki Katainen of the National Coalition Party.-Overview:...

 Anneli Jäätteenmäki

Anneli Jäätteenmäki

Anneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki, Master of Laws was the first female Prime Minister of Finland, in office from 17 April 2003 to 24 June 2003....

's cabinet

Cabinet (government)

A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...

 in 2003. After the resignation of Ms. Jäätteenmäki, Karpela went on to serve in the same post under Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen

Matti Vanhanen

Matti Taneli Vanhanen is a Finnish politician. He is a former Prime Minister of Finland and a former Chairman of the Centre Party. In the second half of 2006 he was President of the European Council. In his earlier career he was a journalist...

.

On 21 May 2006, Karpela married film director Olli Saarela

Olli Saarela

Olli Saarela is a Finnish film director. He has directed films such as Ambush, Bad Luck Love, Rollo and the Woods Sprite and Year of the Wolf, which is based on a book written by Virpi Hämeen-Anttila....

, and took her new husband's surname. She filed for divorce from Olli Saarela in November 2007, and on 22 February 2008 she changed her name back to Karpela.

Karpela has two children from her previous marriage to Totti Karpela.

Controversy

Karpela is a convicted drunk driver and since entering politics, she has become most famous for her relationships – she has remarried twice and broken off a third, separate engagement. Karpela caused a stir in 2001 when it became public that she (a divorcée), was having a relationship with then Finance Minister

Finance minister

The finance minister is a cabinet position in a government.A minister of finance has many different jobs in a government. He or she helps form the government budget, stimulate the economy, and control finances...

 Sauli Niinistö

Sauli Niinistö

Sauli Väinämö Niinistö is a Finnish politician from National Coalition Party. He is also President of the Football Association of Finland. A lawyer by training, he was Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2003 and the National Coalition Party candidate in the 2006 presidential election...

 (a widower). Karpela's Centre Party was in opposition and Mr. Niinistö was considered the second-most influential man in government. Under close press scrutiny ever since, in 2003 Karpela and Niinistö announced their engagement. They broke off their engagement in 2004.

In December 2005 Karpela received a Big Brother Award

Big Brother Awards

The Big Brother Awards recognize "the government and private sector organizations ... which have done the most to threaten personal privacy".They are named after the George Orwell character Big Brother from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.-Countries:...

 from the Finnish on-line civil rights organization EFFI

Effi

Effi is C++ application development framework.- Overview :Effi is application development framework. It provides full range of development tools to create web-based C++ software applications with rich Windows-like GUI....

 for proposing Internet traffic blocking software be installed in schools and libraries. She was also a supporter of the 2005 amendment to the Finnish Copyright Act and Penal Code

2005 amendment to the Finnish Copyright Act and Penal Code

The 2005 amendment to the Finnish Copyright Act and Criminal Code, commonly known as Lex Karpela, was an amendment to make the Finnish copyright legislation and criminal code comply with the EU Copyright Directive 2001/29/EC...

, which has been nicknamed Lex Karpela due to her acceptance of what many perceive to be a highly controversial addition to the Finnish law.

External links

• Personal home page (in Finnish)