Piraattipuolueen ja Itsenäisyyspuolueen vaalikontit

Independence Party (, IPU; ) is a

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

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 ...

. It was founded in 1994 as Alliance for Free Finland. The party supports membership in the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Ass ...

as an alternative to Finland's membership in 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 the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies ...

. The party also opposes

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 ...

. Its current chairman is Henri Aitakari.

Party organization

Based in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, IPU is a registered party. The party has two out of 31 city counselors in

Laitila Laitila (; sv, Letala) is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, and it is from Laitila to Turku. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population de ...

, elected at the

2017 Finnish municipal elections Municipal elections were held in Finland on 9 April 2017 with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April. The councils in 295 municipalities in Finland (excluding Åland) were elected. Several municipalities altered the size of their councils (ma ...

. IPU is a minor political party; it has never had any MPs in the

Finnish Parliament 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 ...

. Membership in the party is around 1,200. The

youth wing A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous, or independently allied front of a larger organization (usually a political party but occasionally another type of organization) that is formed in order to rally support for that organization from members ...

is called Independence Youth. The party is a member of

The European Alliance of EU-critical Movements The European Alliance of EU-critical Movements or TEAM is a cooperation between Eurosceptic or EU-critical associations in various countries of Europe, including both non-partisan associations and political parties. The coordinator of TEAM is ...

(TEAM).

History

IPU was founded in 1994 as Alliance for Free Finland ( fi, Vapaan Suomen Liitto, VSL; sv, Förbundet för det Fria Finland, FFF). Its chairman from its founding until 2004 was Ilkka Hakalehto. served as the party's chairman from 2004 until his resignation for health reasons in 2015. He was re-elected chairman 2016, but resigned again in 2017 shortly before his death in April. He had previously been a city councilor of the party in

Alajärvi Alajärvi is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The town is unilingually Finnish; there are few ...

. Henri Aitakari followed Pesonen as the chairman. IPU has been admitted into the four times, the latest re-admission having taken place in January 2017. Only Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism has dropped out and been re-admitted as many times.

References

External links

* {{Finnish political parties Political parties established in 1994 Registered political parties in Finland 1994 establishments in Finland Eurosceptic parties in Finland Direct democracy parties