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 ...
on 18 and 19 March 1979.
[ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p606 ]
Background
Prime Minister
Martti Miettunen
Martti Juhani Miettunen (17 April 1907 – 19 January 2002), was a Finnish politician who served twice as Finland's prime minister, from 1961 to 1962 and again from 1975 to 1977.
Miettunen was born in Simo, the son of a smallholder. He studi ...
's centrist minority government (Centre Party, Swedish People's Party and Liberal Party) resigned in May 1977, and
Social Democrat
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 soc ...
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 day ...
returned to office as Prime Minister after having served two years earlier. He formed a centre-left majority government, which stimulated the economy by deficit spending, tax cuts to businesses and some public works projects. The economy started to grow again in 1978, after a two-year recession; unemployment peaked at 8.5% (about 200,000 unemployed) in 1978 and inflation remained high.
Results
Aftermath
The
National Coalition Party
sv, Samlingspartiet
, leader1_title = Chairman
, leader1_name = Petteri Orpo
, leader2_title = Deputy chairs
, leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen
, merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...
had conducted a vigorous election campaign, demanding to be allowed to re-join the government after thirteen years in the opposition. They reaped the benefits of this campaign, and of the usual decrease of long-time governing parties' support, by picking up twelve seats and becoming the second-largest party. Their leader,
Harri Holkeri
Harri Hermanni Holkeri (; 6 January 1937 – 7 August 2011) was a Finnish statesman representing the National Coalition Party of Finland (Kokoomus / Samlingspartiet). He was the Prime Minister of Finland 1987–1991, president of the UN Gen ...
, negotiated with the various parliamentary parties and concluded in April 1979 that no stable majority centre-right government could be formed, because the traditional bourgeois parties (the Centre Party, the National Coalition Party, the
Swedish People's Party
The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finlan ...
and the
Liberal People's Party) considered the
Finnish Christian League and
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 ...
too ideologically extreme or old-fashioned to become reliable coalition partners. Holkeri declined to form a government, but Sorsa refused to continue as Prime Minister, due to the unpopularity that he had suffered amid the recession's lingering effects, his role in the establishment of the soon-to-be-bankrupt television cathode-ray tube factory
Valco
Valco was a US manufacturer of guitar amplifiers from the 1940s through 1968.
Apart from its original products, Valco also commercialised electric and acoustic guitars and basses through its subsidiary companies.
History
Valco was formed ...
, his alleged belittling of family violence in a television interview, and his health problems (back pain).
Trade and Industry Minister
Pirkko Työläjärvi
Pirkko Työläjärvi (born 8 September 1938, Jämsä) is a Finnish politician from the Social Democratic Party.
She was member of the parliament from 1972 to 1985, and minister in several cabinets from 1975 to 1982.
After the 1979 Finnish parlia ...
refused President
Urho Kekkonen
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...
's offer to become Prime Minister, because she claimed to be unprepared for such a large task. Kekkonen finally turned to Governor of the
Bank of Finland Mauno Koivisto
Mauno Henrik Koivisto (; 25 November 1923 – 12 May 2017) was a Finnish politician who served as the ninth president of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to 1 ...
of the Social Democrats, who managed to form a centre-left majority government in late May 1979. The veteran Centrist politician
Johannes Virolainen
Johannes Virolainen (; 31 January 1914 – 11 December 2000) was a Finnish politician and who served as 30th Prime Minister of Finland.
Virolainen was born near Viipuri. After the Continuation War Virolainen moved to Lohja, but he remained one ...
claimed in his memoirs that Kekkonen had appointed Koivisto as Prime Minister on the advice of former Prime Minister Miettunen, who claimed that the Finnish people would then see that Koivisto was not as intelligent as they had believed him to be. Kekkonen's official biographer, historian Juhani Suomi, disagreed, and claimed that Koivisto was Kekkonen's last remaining choice as Prime Minister – unless Kekkonen had intended to appoint a caretaker government. Koivisto's second – and final – government would last, despite frequent internal disagreements (their background was Kekkonen's imminent resignation as President and Koivisto's supreme popularity as his successor), until February 1982.
[Aarno Laitinen et al (1981) ''Tamminiemi's Inheritance Dividers'', Journalist Men Ltd]
References
{{Finnish elections
General elections in Finland
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 ...
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
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 ...
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results