Johan Bjarne Kallis (born 21 March 1945 in
Kokkola
Kokkola (; sv, Karleby, ) is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland.
The town is located in the Central Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of ...
) is the former chairman of the
Christian Democratic Party
__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 tea ...
(KD), previously known as the Finnish Christian Coalition (SKL), and a member of the
Parliament of Finland
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 ...
. Kallis works as the principal of the Kokkola academy of commerce and has a master's degree in political sciences.
Chairmanship
Under Kallis's chairmanship, the Christian Coalition / Christian Democratic Party separated in the 2003 Parliament elections from the central parties' group and entered a statewide election alliance with the
National Coalition Party
sv, Samlingspartiet
, leader1_title = Chairman
, leader1_name = Petteri Orpo
, leader2_title = Deputy chairs
, leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen
, merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...
, even though the
Lappish circle of the Christian Coalition was already entering an election allegiance with the
Centre Party in Lapland. In other circles, the Centre Party did not agree to election allegiances, so technical co-operation with the National Coalition Party was necessary.
In the 2003 elections, the party raised its support to over five percent, but the number of members of the parliament dropped to seven. The election allegiance with the National Coalition Party helped to ensure a parliament position for the Minister of Foreign Trade
Jari Vilén
Jari Pekka Olavi Vilén (born 17 April 1964 in Kemi) is a Finnish diplomat and a politician. Mr. Vilén served in the Finnish Parliament, representing the National Coalition Party and the district of Lapland from 1999–2007.
Political life ...
from the Lappish election circle. In return, with the help of the election allegiance, the Christian Democratic Party was able to ensure a parliament position for
Sari Essayah
Sari Miriam Essayah (born 21 February 1967 in Haukivuori) is a Finland, Finnish retired race walking, racewalker and a politician, former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Member of Parliament since 2015. She is the president of the Finn ...
, who had become famous as the holder of the World Record for walking.
Under Bjarne Kallis's chairmanship, the European MP
Eija-Riitta Korhola changed from the Liberal group (ELDR) to the National parties' group (EPP). Later, Korhola also changed her Finnish party membership from the Christian Democratic Party to the National Coalition Party, which caused the Christian Democratic Party to lose their only member position in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
.
Under Kallis's chairmanship, the Christian Coalition, which had emphasised
religiousness, changed into a general Christian democratic party, the Christian Democratic Party of Finland. After Kallis,
Päivi Räsänen
Päivi Maria Räsänen, née Kuvaja (born 19 December 1959, in Sonkajärvi, Finland), is a Finnish politician. The chairwoman of the Christian Democrats from 2004 to 2015, she was the Minister of the Interior of Finland between 2011 and 2015.
A ...
was elected as the new chairman of the party.
Presidential election 2006
Bjarne Kallis was the candidate of the Christian Democratic Party in the
2006 Presidential elections
Presidential elections were held in Bulgaria on 22 October 2006, as decided on 27 July 2006 by the Bulgarian Parliament. The runoff took place on 29 October 2006, while the electoral campaign spanned 19 September – 20 October. At the election, ...
. The people's association gathered to support Kallis's candidacy was started on 1 October 2005 by the Member of the European Parliament
Hannu Takkula
Hannu Aapa Takkula (born 20 November 1963) is a Finnish politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. He is a member of the Centre Party, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.
Early life
Takkul ...
from the Finnish Centre Party, who had long been a friend of Kallis. Also the beauty professional Tiina Jylhä agreed to support Kallis.
Like
Henrik Lax and partly like
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 ...
, Kallis aimed to challenge the head of the Finnish foreign relationships, the president and the prime minister, by supporting a stronger defense dimension of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
and possibly even membership in
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
.
Tarja Halonen
Tarja Kaarina Halonen (; born 24 December 1943) is a Finnish politician who served as the 11th president of Finland, and the first woman to hold the position, from 2000 to 2012. She first rose to prominence as a lawyer with the Central Organisati ...
, the candidate of 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
For ...
, the foreign minister
Erkki Tuomioja and the prime minister
Matti Vanhanen
Matti Taneli Vanhanen (; born 4 November 1955) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2003 to 2010. He was also Chairman of the Centre Party and President of the European Council in 2006. In his earlier career, h ...
, the candidate of the Centre Party, support neutrality also in the future. Kallis is also the chairman of Finnish-
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
society.
Kallis finished sixth out of the eight candidates in the first round of the election on 15 January, with a vote share of 2.0% (61,483 votes). Like Matti Vanhanen, Henrix Lax and
Arto Lahti
Arto Henrikki Lahti (born 3 May 1949 in Merikarvia, Finland) is a professor of entrepreneurship at the Helsinki School of Economics.
He was an independent nominee for the Finnish presidential election in 2006, with themes including preserving th ...
, he publicly endorsed Sauli Niinistö of the
National Coalition Party
sv, Samlingspartiet
, leader1_title = Chairman
, leader1_name = Petteri Orpo
, leader2_title = Deputy chairs
, leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen
, merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...
in the runoff election, held on 29 January, between Niinistö and the incumbent Tarja Halonen who, however, went on to be re-elected.
External links
Bjarne Kallis's actions in the Finnish parliament
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kallis, Bjarne
1945 births
Living people
People from Kokkola
Swedish-speaking Finns
Leaders of political parties in Finland
Christian Democrats (Finland) politicians
National Coalition Party politicians
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1991–95)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1995–99)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1999–2003)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (2003–07)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–11)
Candidates for President of Finland