''SANNA MARIN'S SHINE'' : FINLAND

HELSINKI : At 34, Sanna Marin will become the world's youngest sitting prime minister when she is sworn by the Finnish parliament, but she is very far from lacking political experience.

The former transport minister gained a reputation as a tough. straight-talking operator from her five years as a leader of the city council her hometown of Tampere, where she took office in 2012 aged 27.

Marin's rise to the pinnacle of Finnish government means that when she takes over as head of the  Social Democratic Party next year, women will hold the top job in each of the five parties in Finland's governing centre-left coalition, and all but one of the leaders are aged under 35.

Marin becomes not only Finland's youngest ever prime minister, but also the world's youngest sitting head of government, ahead of Ukraine's Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, who is currently 35.

Marin has said that her childhood has strongly influenced her political priorities. ''I am from a poor family and would not have been able to succeed and move forward were it not for the strong welfare state and the Finnish education system,'' she told Helsingin Sanomat.

In January this year, Marin who has a degree in public administration, admitted in a newspaper interview to liking order both in politics and in her private life.

''It's always very tidy at home,'' she told Finnish paper Helsingin Sanomat, adding that ''The government has its own role, and the labor organisations have theirs. Its important these boundaries are kept to.''

As a mother of a two-year-old daughter, Marin said Sunday that childcare will not interfere with her ability to be prime minister.

As this situation came as a surprise, it was reassuring that my husband messaged me to say he and my mother have already worked out how they will handle the practical child-care issues,'' Marin said.

Recent polling suggests that Marin was the most popular SDP politician to become the next prime minister, and she has said that winning back the trust of both coalition parties and the electorate will be her first priority. [AFP]