Parliamentary elections were held in
Finland on 21 and 22 September 1975.
[ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p606 ]
Background
Prime Minister
Kalevi Sorsa
Taisto Kalevi Sorsa (21 December 1930 – 16 January 2004) was a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland three times: 1972–1975, 1977–1979 and 1982–1987. At the time of his death he still held the record for most d ...
's
Social Democratic Party government survived until June 1975. It resigned because of internal disagreements over the ways to combat Finland's recession, which had largely been caused by the
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
, as well as the government's increased spending and taxes. The Social Democrats and
Centre Party also disagreed on regional policy over the extent to which the national government should re-distribute power and tax revenues to cities, towns and administrative provinces.
President
Urho Kekkonen had gradually become dissatisfied with the performance of Prime Minister Sorsa, Finance Minister
Johannes Virolainen and Foreign Minister
Ahti Karjalainen: either they were not competent, diligent or courageous enough, or they spent too much time in partisan disputes, or - in Virolainen's case, especially - their foreign policy ability or understanding was not good enough. Although
Helsinki was to host the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) at the end of July and at the start of August 1975, Kekkonen did not worry about the possibly negative effect on Finland's international image of having a caretaker government. He appointed it, and chose
Keijo Liinamaa of the Social Democratic Party as Prime Minister, who was the state labour disputes mediator.
Campaign
The opposition parties campaigned with varied slogans; the
Finnish People's Democratic League claimed to be loyal supporters of Kekkonen's foreign policy towards the
Soviet Union and to be even more faithful defenders of the working class than the Social Democrats; the
National Coalition Party promised voters lower taxes and more security; the
Finnish Rural Party
The Finnish Rural Party ( fi, Suomen maaseudun puolue, SMP; sv, Finlands landsbygdsparti, FLP) was an agrarian and populist political party in Finland. Starting as a breakaway faction of the Agrarian League in 1959 as the Small Peasants' Party ...
bitterly condemned Kekkonen's allegedly authoritarian presidency, and his "servile" foreign policy towards the Soviet Union.
The right-wing
Constitutional People's Party accused Kekkonen of violating the Constitution's spirit by forcing Parliament to re-elect him as President through an exceptional law in 1973, and the
Finnish Christian League
The Christian Democrats ( fi, Suomen Kristillisdemokraatit, sv, Kristdemokraterna i Finland; KD) is a Christian-democratic political party in Finland.
It was founded in May 1958, chiefly by the Christian faction of the National Coalition Part ...
kept opposing abortion, pornography, the sale of beer in grocery stores, and the public mocking of Christian values.
Results
Aftermath
Government formation in the midst of a quickly deepening recession and after an inconclusive election proved very painstaking. Veteran Centrist politician
Martti Miettunen finally succeeded, with the help of Kekkonen's strongly-worded televised speech, in forming a centre-left majority "emergency" government in November 1975. It lasted until September 1976, when the Social Democrats and Finnish People's Democratic League left it. Miettunen then formed a centrist minority government.
[Georg C. Ehrnrooth (1999) ''Amid the Crocodiles: Memories from the Cold War Decades'', Schildts]
References
{{Finnish elections
General elections in Finland
Finland
Parliament
Finland
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results