Parliamentary elections were held in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

between 1 and 3 July 1922.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p606 The

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

remained the largest in Parliament with 53 of the 200 seats. The

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

of Professor

Aimo Cajander Aimo Kaarlo Cajander (4 April 1879 – 21 January 1943) was the Prime Minister of Finland up to the Winter War. Cajander was born in Uusikaupunki, and became a botanist, a professor of forestry 1911–34; director-general for Finland's F ...

(Progressive), that President Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg had appointed in June 1922, following the resignation of Prime Minister

Juho Vennola Juho Heikki Vennola (originally Karhu, 19 June 1872 – 3 December 1938) was Professor of National Economics at the University of Helsinki, a member of the Parliament of Finland, and a politician from the National Progressive Party, who served as ...

(Progressive), remained in office until

Kyösti Kallio Kyösti Kallio (; 10 April 1873 – 19 December 1940) was a Finnish politician of the Agrarian League who served as the fourth president of Finland from 1937–1940; his presidency included leading the country through the Winter War. He was t ...

formed an Agrarian- Progressive minority government in November 1922. Voter turnout was 58.5%.

Background

By 1922, the Finnish society, economy and politics had begun to stabilize. The Progressive (liberal) President Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg had pardoned many Red (socialist) prisoners of the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

, the worst poverty caused by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the Civil War was over, and the Agrarian leader,

, was preparing a law ( Lex Kallio) that would distribute the excess farmlands of wealthy landowners to the former tenant farmers and other landless rural people. The

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

, led by

Väinö Tanner Väinö Alfred Tanner (; 12 March 1881 – 19 April 1966; surname until 1895 ''Thomasson'') was a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and a pioneer and leader of the cooperative movement in Finland. He was Prime Minister ...

, had committed themselves to the peaceful and democratic pursuit of socialist reform goals. The mostly Agrarian-Progressive minority governments pursued moderate and conciliatory policies. Compulsory schooling of Finnish children was enacted in 1921. The Communists dared to organize the Socialist Workers' Party before the elections, so they preferred open political activity to underground political activity. Shortly before the election campaign officially started, the Finnish Parliament rejected a five-year defence treaty between Finland,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. Enough deputies doubted the ability of Poland and the Baltic countries to defend Finland during a real war.Pentti Virrankoski, A History of Finland 1&2 / Suomen historia 1&2, Helsinki: Finnish Literary Society / Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura, 2009, pages 786–787, 791, 797–800

Results

References

{{Finnish elections General elections in Finland

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Election and referendum articles with incomplete results

Background

Results

See also

References