2019 Finnish Parliamentary Election
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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 14 April 2019. For the first time, no party received more than 20% of the vote. The Centre Party, which had been the largest party following the
2015 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in the year 2015. Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burun ...
, dropped to fourth place, losing 18 seats and recording its lowest vote share since 1917. The Social Democratic Party saw the biggest gains, winning six more seats and narrowly becoming the largest party for the first time since 1999. The Green League and the Left Alliance also gained five and four seats respectively. The Finns Party and the National Coalition Party gained one seat each, with the Finns Party recovering the seats it had lost in the previous parliament when 21 of its MPs left to form
Blue Reform The Finnish Reform Movement ( fi, Korjausliike, korj), is a Finnish conservative political party. It was founded by the 19 MPs who left the Finns Party on 13 June 2017 in protest against Jussi Halla-aho having been elected party leader. The n ...
, which failed to win a seat. 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
Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...
retained all of their seats that they had won in the previous elections. The
Åland Coalition The Åland Coalition ( sv, Åländsk Samling) is a political alliance of the main political parties in Åland formed to contest the Åland seat in the Parliament of Finland. Its representative usually sits with the Swedish People's Party faction ...
retained their seat in
Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...
, whilst
Harry Harkimo Harry Juhani "Hjallis" Harkimo (born 2 November 1953) is a Finnish businessman, sportsperson, and a member of the Finnish Parliament. Previously a National Coalition Party MP, he now chairs his own political party, Movement Now. First elected t ...
, a former National Coalition MP who founded
Movement Now Movement Now ( fi, Liike Nyt , sv, Rörelse nu) is an economically liberal political party in Finland. It was founded by then- National Coalition Party (NCP) member of parliament (MP) Harry "Hjallis" Harkimo and seven other people as a polit ...
twelve months earlier, was reelected in his constituency, thus giving his own movement its first elected MP. Social Democratic Party leader
Antti Rinne Antti Juhani Rinne (; born 3 November 1962) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019, and served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party between 2014 and 2020. Biography A lawyer by profession, ...
subsequently formed a coalition government with the Centre Party, Green League, Left Alliance and Swedish People's Party. Due to the Centre Party's devastating defeat, Prime Minister
Juha Sipilä Juha Petri Sipilä (; born 25 April 1961) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2015 to 2019. A relative newcomer to politics, he has a successful background in business. He was the leader of the Centre Party fr ...
consequently announced that he would continue as the chairman only until the party's next convention in September 2019.


Background

The incumbent government was formed by a three party center-right coalition, composed of the Centre Party,
Finns Party The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...
and
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 ...
. On 28 May 2015, the parliament elected
Juha Sipilä Juha Petri Sipilä (; born 25 April 1961) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2015 to 2019. A relative newcomer to politics, he has a successful background in business. He was the leader of the Centre Party fr ...
as prime minister by a vote of 128–62.


2017 government crisis

On 10 June 2017, the Finns Party
elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...
Jussi Halla-aho Jussi Kristian Halla-aho (born 27 April 1971) is a Finnish politician who has served as a member of the Parliament of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and again since 2019, and as the leader of the Finns Party from 10 June 2017Timo Soini Timo Juhani Soini (born 30 May 1962) is a Finnish politician who is the co-founder and former leader of the Finns Party. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Finland from 2015 to 2017 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2019. He was e ...
had decided to step down. Following the talks among the three coalition leaders, Sipilä and
Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
Petteri Orpo Antti Petteri Orpo (born 3 November 1969) is a Finnish politician serving as the leader of the National Coalition Party since 2016. He has previously served as Deputy Prime Minister of Finland from 2017 to 2019, Minister of Finance from 2016 to 2 ...
announced that they would no longer cooperate in a coalition government with the Finns Party. The collapse of government was averted on 13 June when twenty MPs defected from the Finns Party's
parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...
, forming what would eventually become the
Blue Reform The Finnish Reform Movement ( fi, Korjausliike, korj), is a Finnish conservative political party. It was founded by the 19 MPs who left the Finns Party on 13 June 2017 in protest against Jussi Halla-aho having been elected party leader. The n ...
party. One MP (
Kike Elomaa Ritva Tuulikki "Kike" Elomaa (née ''Sainio''; born 16 July 1955, in Lokalahti) is a Finnish professional female bodybuilding champion, pop singer, and member of the Finnish Parliament. Early life and education Kike Elomaa was born in Lokalah ...
) later returned to the Finns Party and another (
Kaj Turunen Kaj Valentin Turunen (born 27 December 1960 in Lohja) is a Finnish politician. Turunen was elected to the Finnish Parliament in the 2011 election as a The Finns Party candidate from the electoral district of Southern Savonia with 2,631 votes. In ...
) defected to National Coalition Party, leaving the Blue Reform with 18 and Finns Party with 17 MPs.
Veera Ruoho Veera Marita Ruoho (née Liukkonen; born 4 August 1969 in Hirvensalmi) is a Finnish politician and an Olympic Taekwondo practitioner. She participated in the Women's Heavyweight competition in Taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Au ...
furthermore defected to the National Coalition. Sipilä's government retained a majority in the Parliament as the Blue Reform continued as a member of the coalition and the Finns Party was moved to the opposition. On 8 March 2019, prime minister Sipilä resigned. However, that same day president
Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (; born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who has served as president of Finland since March 2012, the 12th person to hold that office. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Part ...
reappointed him as head of a caretaker government. According to Sipilä, his government collapsed because of the failure to reach agreement on the controversial health care reform. But several Finnish political analysts (Thomas Karv, Teivo Teivainen) interpreted his resignation as a strategic move that could give the coalition parties, Sipilä's Centre Party in particular, more freedom during the election campaign. Thus, the Centre Party might be able to revive itself in the polls, in which the party was lagging behind the Social Democrats.


Campaign

After the
Oulu child sexual exploitation scandal In December 2018, it transpired that adult men, all of whom had arrived in Finland as asylum seekers or refugees, were grooming, and raping and otherwise sexually abusing, girls under 15 years of age in Oulu, Finland. One victim ended up comm ...
, support for the anti-immigration Finns Party surged from around 8.5% to 9% in late 2018 to 17.5% by the election. The Social Democrats proposed raising taxes to fund the country's welfare system. The election saw "an unusual level of aggression on the campaign trail," especially considering "attacks on politicians are rare in Finland". In late March, a man struck Left Alliance candidate Suldaan Said Ahmed in the chest while calling him an infidel and pedophile a day after a man wearing logos of far-right anti-immigrant group
Soldiers of Odin Soldiers of Odin (SOO; fi, Odinin sotilaat) is an anti-immigrant group which was founded in Kemi, Finland, in October of 2015. The group was established in response to the thousands of migrants who were arriving in Finland amidst the European ...
attempted to attack
Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
Timo Soini Timo Juhani Soini (born 30 May 1962) is a Finnish politician who is the co-founder and former leader of the Finns Party. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Finland from 2015 to 2017 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2019. He was e ...
of the Blue Party.


Electoral system

The 200 members of the
Eduskunta The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...
were elected using
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
in 13 multi-member constituencies, with seats allocated according to the
D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...
. The number of elected representatives is proportional to the population in the district six months prior to the elections.
Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...
has single member electoral district and its own party system. Compared to the previous election in 2015, one seat was reallocated from Savonia-Karelia to Uusimaa.


Opinion polls


Results

Voter turnout was 72%, the highest since 1987. The highest turnout was in the Helsinki constituency, where the turnout was 78%. The lowest was in Savo-Karelia constituency at 67% and Åland constituency at 60%. Women had a slightly higher turnout of 74% compared for men who had a turnout of 71%.


Government formation

During election debates, the Social Democrats, the National Coalition Party, Green League, Left Alliance, and the Swedish People's Party stated that they were interested in joining a coalition that does not include the Finns Party. Despite being ruled-out by five parties, Finns Party chairman Jussi Halla-aho said that all parties should show responsibility when forming a coalition. He said the most responsible way to form a coalition is to include the Finns Party. Two weeks later, SDP chairman
Antti Rinne Antti Juhani Rinne (; born 3 November 1962) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019, and served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party between 2014 and 2020. Biography A lawyer by profession, ...
, who was expected to lead the government, sent a questionnaire to each of the other parties, to assess their positions on various topics such as
basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...
,
collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...
,
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
or health care reform. Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties, Rinne announced that he would negotiate forming a government with Centre Party, Green League, Left Alliance and Swedish People's Party. The negotiations were ultimately successful, and the
Rinne Cabinet The cabinet of Antti Rinne was the 75th government of Finland. It was formed following the parliamentary election of 2019 and was formally appointed by President Sauli Niinistö on 6 June 2019. The cabinet consisted of a coalition formed by the ...
was formally inaugurated on 6 June.


References


Further reading

*
Special issue of ''Scandinavian Political Studies'' on the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, Volume 42, Issue 3-4, 165-307, September‐December 2019
{{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 ...
Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...
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 ...