Parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-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 ...

on 1 and 2 July 1948. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p606

Background

The political atmosphere during the July 1948 Finnish parliamentary elections was heated. Many Finns across the party lines believed that the Communists and People's Democrats had pursued their goal of making Finland a solidly left-wing country too vigorously. They had even held the Prime Ministership since March 1946, with

Mauno Pekkala Mauno Pekkala (27 January 1890 – 30 June 1952) was a Finnish statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister from 1946 to 1948. Pekkala was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland and member of several wartime cabinets as Min ...

serving in that position. They had organized many mass meetings, demanded the dismissal of "reactionary" (especially right-wing) civil servants and claimed that the Finnish government had to adopt even a friendlier relationship with the Soviet Union. They had vigorously supported the imprisonment of eight former top politicians, including former President Ryti, for "war guilt" (making decisions that resulted in the Continuation War of 1941 to 1944 between Finland, the Soviet Union and Germany). In the spring of 1948, there were even unproven rumours of an imminent coup attempt by the Finnish Communists. Some Finnish war veterans condemned the Communist Interior Minister Yrjö Leino for deporting to the Soviet Union Ingrian Finns, East Karelians and Estonians who had bravely fought in the Finnish army during the Continuation War. The controversy over the treatment of these "prisoners of Leino", several of whom were Finnish citizens forced Leino to resign in May 1948. The Social Democrats election slogan was: "Enough Already: Price Hikes, Lying Promises, Opinion Terror and Forced Democracy." The Agrarian election slogan was: "On These Leans the Agrarian Union" under the Bible and the Finnish law. The National Coalitioners declared simply: "Be Free." These traditional democratic parties gained a total of 16 deputies in the election, while the Communists lost 11, compared to the 1945 election. After the election, the Finnish politics began to stabilize. The United States appreciated Finland's desire to remain a Western democracy, despite its close relationship with the Soviet Union, symbolized by the Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance Treaty (FCMA), which was signed in April 1948. After these parliamentary elections, the Social Democrats formed a minority government under Prime Minister

Karl-August Fagerholm Karl-August Fagerholm (31 December 1901, in Siuntio – 22 May 1984, in Helsinki) was Speaker of Parliament and three times Prime Minister of Finland (1948–50, 1956–57, and 1958–59). Fagerholm became one of the leading politicia ...

. They did not want to form a government with the Agrarians, claimed the late veteran Agrarian-Centrist politician Johannes Virolainen, because they feared that they would lose votes to the Communists in the next election. The Agrarians quietly supported Fagerholm's government.Johannes Virolainen, The Last Electoral Term / Viimeinen vaalikausi, Helsinki: Otava, 1991

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