The party board of the Left Alliance has agreed to appoint Jussi Saramo as Education Minister for the duration of Li Andersson's maternity leave.
Party leader Andersson announced last week that she was pregnant and would take some maternity leave early in 2021.
"Equality in education is the core of a functional welfare state and the best possible investment in the future," said Saramo. "Li Andersson has done great and ambitious work on this, and if the party council and the parliamentary group agree, then I am ready to continue that work."
**Read more: **Education Minister Li Andersson announces pregnancy
Saramo is a first-term MP from Vantaa and the party's first vice-chair. He is a long-standing Left Alliance stalwart, having served two terms as a local councillor in Porvoo before moving to Vantaa, where he is currently on the council.
From 2005 to 2009 he was the chair of the party's youth wing.
The party board also considered Hanna Sarkkinen, an MP from Oulu who is slated to become a minister in the Social Affairs and Health ministry from next summer, and Paavo Arhinmäki, who served as the minister for culture and sport from 2011 to 2014.
The final choice of maternity leave substitute will be made by a joint meeting of the party council and the parliamentary group, which will take place during the autumn.
Andersson plans to work as normal up until the Christmas holidays, before taking maternity leave in the early part of 2021. She will have a replacement as Education Minister, and will handle duties related to her leadership of the party along with the party's vice-chairs.
Municipal elections are scheduled to take place in April 2021.
