Terho graduated from the
University of Tampere in 2003 with a
Master's degree in
Finnish History, and has worked as a researcher in the
Finnish National Defence University. He has written a book on the history of
capital punishment. Terho has also served as a
peacekeeper in
Bosnia & Herzegovina. Terho received the second largest number of votes on the
Finns Party (then known as the True Finns) electoral list in the
2009 European Parliament elections. He succeeded
Timo Soini in the
European Parliament when Soini was elected to
Parliament of Finland in the
2011 elections. He was re-elected in the
2014 elections. Terho participated in the
2015 parliamentary elections and was elected to the parliament with 10,067 personal votes. His term in the European Parliament ended on 27 April, when Terho officially accepted the seat in the Finnish Parliament. He subsequently became the chairman of the Finns Party's parliamentary group. On 5 May 2017, he started as the Minister for European Affairs, Culture and Sports in the
Sipilä Cabinet. In 2017, Terho ran against
Jussi Halla-aho for party chairmanship, but ultimately lost the
chairmanship election at the party convention on 10 June. On 13 June, Terho and 19 others left the Finns Party parliamentary group to found the New Alternative parliamentary group which was turned into a new party known as
Blue Reform. After the split, the New Alternative group took the Finns Party's place in the cabinet and Terho continued as a Minister. In the
2019 parliamentary elections, Terho was a candidate of the Blue Reform in Uusimaa constituency, but was not elected. After leaving politics, Terho became a writer and published his first book
Olev Roosin kyyneleet in January 2021. Terho wrote a chamber music piece, of around five minutes long, to celebrate
Finland's 100 years of independence, for the Kuopio city orchestra. The piece is arranged by Terho with conductor Heikki Elo, who together have orchestrated the piece. == Electoral history ==